THE  WORLDS  EPOCH MAKEFS. 
Edited  by  Ouphant  Smeatoh. 


By 

F  J.Snell.  m  a 


//.  Q'.  /<?. 


*^V*  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  Hfy 


Purchased  by  the 
Mrs.  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy  Church  History  Fund. 

BX  8495   .W5  S55  1900 
Snell,  F.  J.  1862- 
Wesley  and  Methodism 


THE  WORLD'S  EPOCH-MAKERS 


EDITED  Bf 

OLIPHANT  ''SMEATON 


Wesley  and  Methodism 

By  F.  J.  Snell 


Previous  Volume  in  this  Series  : — 


Cranmer  and 

The  Reformation  in  England. 
By  Arthur  D.  Jnnes,  M.A. 

For  complete  List  see  end. 


THE  WORLD'S  EPOCH-MAKERS 


Wesley  and 

Methodism 

/  By 

F.  J.  Snell,  M.A.(Oxon.) 

Author  of 

"The  Fourteenth  Century"  (Periods  of  European  Literature) 


"  Exspecta  Dominum  ;  viriliter  age  ;  noli  diffidere ; 
noli  discedere ;  sed  corpus  et  animam  expone 
constanter    pro    gloria    Dei."  —  Imitatio  Christ}. 

Cited  by  Wesley  in  an  eirenicon  to  the  Clergy. 


New  York.        Charles  Scribner's  Sons 
1900 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/wesleymethodismOOsnel_0 


PREFACE 


What  has  been  attempted  in  the  present  work  ? 
Certainly,  not  a  full  and  particular  biography  of 
John  Wesley.  He,  it  is  true,  is  the  central  figure, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  sufficient  heed  has  been  given 
to  his  personal  actions  and  qualities  to  ensure  a 
distinct,  a  recognisable,  and — if  only  it  might  be ! — 
vivid  portrait  of  that  king  of  men.  But  a  full  and 
particular  biography  would  call  for  more  pages  than 
go  to  compose  the  entire  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  aim  has  been  something 
other  than  to  string  together  a  series  of  essays  on 
various  aspects  of  Methodism.  While  the  writer  has 
avoided  Tyerman's  method  of  strict  chronological  order 
— excellent  though  it  is  for  some  purposes — as  involv- 
ing broken  lights  and  insecure  perspective,  he  has 
striven  to  mark  the  stages  of  Methodist  evolution  by 
treating  in  successive  chapters  characteristics  of  the 
movement,  as  they  assumed  exceptional  importance  at 
successive  periods  of  Wesley's  life. 

Naturally,  however,  my  first  care  has  been  to  pro- 
vide a  fitting  introduction  for  the  man  with  whom  the 
movement  is  inseparably  associated.  It  may  be,  as 
Southey  suggests,  that,  if  Wesley  had  not  existed, 


vi 


PREFACE 


another  prophet  would  have  arisen,  that  Methodism 
was  in  the  air,  and  certain  to  take  shape  one  way  or 
another.  That  may  be,  but  he  who  shaped  Methodism 
was  John  Wesley;  and  if  the  movement  was  not  an 
accident,  neither  was  the  man.  Personalities  are  of 
secular  growth.  Long  before  Wesley  appeared  in  the 
flesh,  a  thousand  influences  had  been  working  to 
fashion  his  character  and  to  steel  his  nerve.  A 
biographer,  however,  can  trace  back  those  influences 
only  a  very  little  way. 

Wesley  steps  out  of  boyhood  into  University  life, 
into  the  life  of  the  world.  His  path  is  still  dark.  He 
has  not  found  his  mission.  There  follows  an  era  of 
perturbation,  which  Bohler  nearly  but  not  quite  ends, 
and  Wesley  begins  to  have  inklings  of  his  destiny. 
At  this  point  it  is  natural  to  survey  the  spiritual  con- 
ditions of  his  age  and  country.  The  remedy  is  next 
dealt  with,  and,  after  that,  the  scandal  caused  by  its 
application.  Then  comes  a  statement  of  Wesley's 
special  beliefs  and  of  sundry  controversies,  occupying 
the  early  and  middle  periods  of  his  larger  ministry. 
The  subject  of  organisation  is  reserved  to  the  last,  the 
matter  having  acquired  peculiar  interest  in  Wesley's 
age  in  relation  to  the  Church  of  England,  from  which 
Methodism  was  slowly  but  surely  drifting.  If  I  have 
not  been  fastidious  about  the  exact  sequence  of  events, 
I  have  endeavoured  to  attain  something  like  sequence 
of  ideas — in  other  words,  to  record  history  philosophic- 
ally. 

I  cannot  lay  claim  to  much  original  research,  but, 
by  way  of  preparation,  I  studied  for  myself  the 
fourteen  tomes  of  Wesley's  Works,  besides  plentiful 
odd  volumes  of  miscellaneous  Methodist  literature. 


PREFACE 


vii 


Recent  numbers  of  the  Weslcyan  Methodist  Magazine 
contain  interesting  and  valuable  papers  by  Mr.  Telford 
and  Mr.  M'Cullagh,  and  I  have  to  thank  those  very 
competent  writers  for  more  than  one  useful  hint.  I 
have,  of  course,  laid  under  contribution  the  stock 
biographies  of  Wesley,  as  is  shown  by  frequent  refer- 
ences in  the  text ;  and,  lastly,  I  have  drawn  on  my  own 
general  reading  for  the  purpose  of  illumination. 


F.  J.  SNELL. 


CONTENTS 


PAOB 

Preface    v 

CHAPTER  I 

KITH  AND  KIN 

Epworth  —  Intellectual  Parity  —  Puritan  Antecedents  —  Dr. 
Annesley— John  Wesley  on  the  Puritans— The  Enlistment  of 
SamiU'l  Wesley — Aristocratic  Connections — The  Annesleys— 
Lord  Mornington  and  Charles  Wesley — "Cyrus"  and 
"  Aspasia" — Family  Pride— "Old  Jeffrey  " — Samuel  Wesley 
as  Parish  Priest — The  New  Generation         ....  1 

CHAPTER  II 

FIRST-FRUITS 

Boyhood— At  the  Charterhouse— Interview  with  Dr.  Sacheverell 
— Fellow  of  Lincoln — University  Manners  —  The  Name 
"Methodist"  — The  Holy  Club  — A  Family  Difference- 
Colonisation  of  Georgia — The  Wesleys'  Missionary  Enterprise 
— A  Great  Storm — Intercourse  with  the  Moravians — Rough 
Quarters — The  Hopkey  Affair  24 

CHAPTER  III 

APOSTLESHIP 

The  Fear  of  Death— Peter  Bohler— Justification  by  Faith— John 
Gambold— Hell — Methodist  Type  of  Conversion — Wesley 
and  Manzoni  Compared — 24th  May  1738 — Rudeness  to  William 
Law — Montaigne's  Three  Orders — The  Church  of  England- 
Adventures  of  Bishop  Wilson — Non-Residence — Dissent — 
Religion  at  Zero — The  Apostle  of  England — Visit  to  Germany  49 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IV 

LOVE  AND  DEATH 

Glad  Tidings— Love-Feasts— Suggestions  of  the  Enemy— Real 
Methodist  Love  —  George  Whitefield  —  Girl's  Clothes — 
Glamour  of  the  Stage — Whitefield  as  Servitor — Conversion — 
Ordination  —  At  Dummer  —  Popularity  —  Embarkation  for 
America — Bishop  Lavington — Cant — Methodist  "Brides" — 
Elisabeth  Wallbridge— Sydney  Smith  on  Methodism— The 
Methodist  "  Confessional"  


CHAPTER  V 

SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS 

Difficulties  and  Dangers— Harmless  Bishops — Field- Preaching — 
At  Kingswood — "  Extraordinary  Circumstances" — Causes — 
Posture  of  the  Clergy — A  Sermon  and  its  Effects — Wesley's 
"Journalese"  —  Fury  of  Dissent  —  Brutal  Conduct  to 
Methodist  Women — Methodist  Valour— "No  Popery!" — 
Methodism  and  the  Fashionable  World — Humphry  Clinker 
—The  King  of  Bath  107 


CHAPTER  VI 

MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES 

Middleton's  Free  Enquiry— k  Medieval  Miracle — An  Eighteenth- 
Century  Miracle  —  "Methodism  Displayed"  —  Wesley  on 
Miracles — Wesley  on  Enthusiasm — A  Parallel  from  Plato- 
Sortilege— Karlstadt  and  Bell — Quietism  and  Methodism — 
Christian  Perfection — Reuan's  Philosophy — Amusements — 
Collision  with  the  Moravians— Courtships— Marriage   .       .  151 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  NEW  DISSENT 

Out  of  Place— Charity — Principles  of  Methodism  and  the  Refor- 
mation Contrasted — Wesley  no  Sectary — Early  Aspirations 
— Character  and  Constituents  of  Methodism — Origin  of  the 
Class-Meeti»g  —  Precedents  —  L.iy-Preaeheis  —  Education — 
Hymnplogy  —  Methodism  in  America  —  Ordinations — 
Episcopal  Resentment— Wesley  in  Old   Age  — Death  and 


WESLEY  AO  METHODISM 


CHAPTER  I 

KITH  AND  KIN 

Epworth  —  Intellectual  Parity  —  Puritan  Antecedents  —  Dr. 
Annesley — John  Wesley  on  the  Puritans — The  Enlistment 
of  Samuel  Wesley — Aristocratic  Connections — The  Annesleys 
—  Lord  Mornington  and  Charles  Wesley — "Cyrus"  and 
"Aspasia" — Family  Pride — "Old  Jeffrey" — Samuel  Wesley 
as  Parish  Priest — The  New  Generation. 

Lincolnshire,  that  paradise  of  graziers,  owns  no  more 
fertile  region  than  the  "low  levels,"  with  their  rich 
brown  loam,  of  the  Isle  of  Axholme.  The  word  "  isle  " 
in  this,  as  in  other  English  place-names, — the  Isle  of 
Athelney,  the  Isle  of  Dogs,  etc., — is  reminiscent  of 
earlier  times  and  vanished  conditions.  Already  in  the 
seventeenth  century  the  skill  and  patience  of  a  Danish 
financier  had  succeeded  in  transforming  the  king's 
chase.  The  malarial  swamp  had  been  witched  into 
smiling  pastures.  The  country  had  ceased  to  be 
"  drowned "  by  the  swelling  Trent.  Axholme,  how- 
ever, was  still  an  isle.  It  was  a  river-isle,  a  Meso- 
potamia, moated  (as  the  Laureate  has  it)  by  Idle,  and 


2  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Don,  and  Torn,  and  Trent, — quite  comedy  names,  when 
you  think  of  it, — and  the  old  Bykers  dyke,  knitting 
stream  to  stream. 

The  metropolis  of  the  isle  is  the  little  market-town 
of  Epworth,  peopled  by  some  two  thousand  souls,  and 
perched  on  a  gentle  slope.  The  church — nave,  aisle, 
chancel,  tower — is  a  cynosure  for  neighbouring  eyes, 
but  the  representative  pilgrim  will  turn,  perhaps,  first 
of  all  to  the  parsonage,  the  cradle  of  Methodism,  the 
home  of  a  family  of  genius. 

'Twas  in  1696  that  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley  entered 
on  the  living  of  Epworth, — given  to  him  posthumously, 
as  it  were,  by  good  Queen  Mary. — and  took  possession 
of  the  rectory  house.  Not  an  imposing  structure,  it 
was  built  throughout  of  wood  and  plaster,  had  a  thatch 
roof,  and  contained  only  seven  rooms  of  any  size.  But, 
poor  as  it  was,  the  house  may  have  been  an  improve- 
ment on  the  mean  cot,  composed  of  reed  and  clay, 
wherewith  Samuel  Wesley  and  Susanna,  his  wife,  had 
been  forced  to  content  themselves  at  South  Ormsby. 

It  may  be  questioned  if  in  all  Lincolnshire  there 
could  have  been  found  an  instance  of  more  perfect 
mating  than  was  offered  by  this  worthy  pair,  and  that 
whether  we  think  of  taste  and  mental  vigour,  or 
simply  of  family  tradition  and  inherited  station. 
Wife  and  husband  drew  their  chief,  and  well-nigh 
their  sole,  happiness  from  the  rigid  performance  of 
duty.  That  may  stand  for  taste.  Duty  is  to  some 
minds  what  art  or  music  is  to  others — the  object  of 
warm  devotion  and  of  infinite  refinements. 

The  rector  of  Epworth  was  at  once  a  wit,  a  poet, 
and  a  scholar.  His  versified  "  Life  of  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  pleased  Queen  Mary  amazingly,  or  Epworth 


KITH  AND  KIN 


3 


would  never  have  acquired  Samuel  Wesley.  Pope 
knew  him  well,  and  Pope,  writing  to  Swift,  observes, 
"  I  call  him  what  he  is — a  learned  man."  Earlier  he 
had  honoured  Wesley  by  coupling  him  with  Watts  in 
the  Dunciad.  Pope,  however,  became  sensible  of  the 
injustice,  and  in  the  revised  edition  of  the  poem  the 
names  of  both  divines  were  discreetly  expunged. 

Mrs.  Wesley  was  not  a  classic,  but  on  her  devolved 
the  education,  in  the  widest  sense,  of  her  many 
children.  For  her  own  purpose  she  raised  [pedagogy 
to  a  science;  and  her  methods  of  instruction  were 
brilliantly  reflected  in  the  careers  of,  at  least,  two 
of  her  sons.  Nevertheless,  there  was  something  odd, 
something  casual,  something  uncanny  in  her  methods. 

Samuel,  the  eldest-born,  never  spoke  till  he  was 
five.  He  "  found  his  tongue "  suddenly.  Sam  had 
behaved  like  most  boys.  He  had  got  lost.  His  mother 
searched  for  him,  and  forgetting  that  he  was  dumb, 
kept  calling  on  him  to  answer.  All  at  once  he  replied, 
"  Here  I  am,  mother  ! "  From  that  hour  Sam  displayed 
aptitude  in  learning,  as  well  as  a  singularly  retentive 
memory ;  and  Mrs.  Wesley,  regarding  him  as  a  proof 
of  the  wisdom  of  not  "  forcing  "  her  children,  refrained, 
except  in  the  case  of  the  youngest,  from  teaching  them 
even  the  alphabet  till  they  were  jive.  She  was  a  capable 
schoolmistress,  however.  "  It  is  almost  incredible,"  she 
says,  "  what  a  child  may  be  taught  in  a  quarter  of  a 
year  by  a  vigorous  application." 

Mrs.  Wesley  aimed  not  only  at  moulding  the  mind, 
but  at  forming  the  character ;  and  it  is  easy  to  trace 
in  the  ethics  of  the  parsonage  a  distinct  vein  of 
Puritanism.  To  the  horror  of  the  modern  Methodist, 
though  not  to  the  horror  of  John  Wesley — filially 


4  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


inconsistent  in  this  point  alone — card-playing  was 
admitted.  But  masquerades,  balls,  plays,  operas,  and 
similar  diversions,  were  held  as  among  the  pomps 
and  vanities  of  this  wicked  world,  and  accordingly 
tabooed. 

This  view  of  amusements  was  natural  enough.  Both 
Samuel  and  Susanna  were  of  Puritan  descent.  Samuel's 
grandfather,  Bartholomew  Wesley  (or  Westley),  had 
been  ejected  from  his  Dorsetshire  living  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  His  father, 
John  Wesley,  had  not  only  been  ejected,  but  im- 
prisoned four  times  for  preaching  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gathered  Church.  Impatient  of  the  gag — "  Woe  is 
me,"  said  he,  "  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel ! " — he  contem- 
plated a  voyage  to  Maryland  or  Surinam,  but  finally 
settled  down  as  minister  of  a  conventicle  at  Poole. 

Mrs.  Wesley's  father,  Dr.  Samuel  Annesley,  was  also 
of  the  Puritan  way.  He  has  been  held  a  republican 
among  republicans,  and  not  without  reason,  if  we  are 
to  judge  from  a  sermon  published  by  order  of  the 
Commons.  But,  according  to  his  own  statement,  he 
had  publicly  expressed  detestation  of  the  "  horrid 
murder"  of  the  king.  He  had  refused  a  horse  for 
service  at  the  battle  of  Worcester,  and  his  disparage- 
ment of  Cromwell  had  driven  him  from  a  fat  living  to 
the  smallest  parish  in  London.  The  Act  of  Uniformity 
drove  him  out  of  that.  Annesley,  however,  did  not 
lack  means.  He  was  able  to  support  his  large  family 
— "  two  dozen  or  a  quarter  of  a  hundred  " — in  comfort, 
and  to  relieve  his  less  fortunate  brethren.  "How 
many  ministers  had  starved,"  says  Williams,  in  his 
funeral  sermon,  "  if  Dr.  Annesley  had  died  thirty-four 
years  since ! " 


KITH  AND  KIN 


5 


This  staunch  Puritan  was  of  fine  presence  and 
eloquent  speech,  and  the  graces  of  his  style  were  cele- 
brated in  pleasing  verse  by  the  author  of  Robinson 
Crusoe : 

"  The  Sacred  Bow  he  so  divinely  drew, 
That  every  shaft  both  hit  and  overthrew. 
His  native  candour  and  familiar  style, 
Which  did  so  oft  his  hearers'  hours  beguile, 
Charmed  us  with  godliness ;  and  while  he  spake, 
We  loved  the  doctrine  for  the  teacher's  sake. 
While  he  informed  us  what  those  doctrines  meant, 
By  dint  of  practice  more  than  argument, 
Strange  were  the  charms  of  his  sincerity, 
Which  made  his  actions  and  his  words  agree." 

There  has  always  been  a  prejudice  among  Church- 
folk  against  those  whom  Dr.  Johnson,  himself  as  pre- 
judiced as  any,  calls  "  sectaries."  Devoted  to  the 
Church  of  England,  and  opposed  to  schism,  if  not  to 
schismatics,  John  Wesley  was  never  ashamed  of  his 
Puritan  connections.  He  regarded  the  pick  of  the 
party  as  victims  of  oppression.  Going  back  to  the 
days  of  the  Reformation,  he  says  of  Cartwright,  "I  look 
upon  him  and  the  body  of  Puritans  in  that  age  (to 
whom  the  German  Anabaptists  bore  small  resemblance) 
to  have  been  both  the  most  learned  and  most  pious 
men  that  were  then  in  the  English  nation.  Nor  did 
they  separate  from  the  Church,  but  were  driven  out, 
whether  they  would  or  no."  In  his  Farther  Appeal 
he  writes  with  sturdy  appi-obation  of  "  that  venerable 
man,"  Philip  Henry.  In  his  Thoughts  upon  Liberty, 
he  dilates  indignantly  on  the  penalties  inflicted  on  the 
heroes  of  Nonconformity. 

It  may  be  well  to  mention  how  Samuel  Wesley 
turned  Churchman.     As  a  youth,  he  studied  at  a 


6  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Stepney  Dissenting  academy,  and,  whilst  thus  en- 
gaged, enjoyed  the  by  no  means  contemptible  privi- 
lege of  listening  to  a  homely  divine,  whom  he  calls, 
with  loving  familiarity,  "  Friend  Bunyan."  Wesley, 
however,  was  more  than  a  student.  He  was  "  a  dabbler 
in  rhyme  and  faction,"  and  applauded  by  his  elders, 
sharpened  his  wit  at  the  expense  of  Church  and 
State.  On  that  account  he  was  chosen  to  answer  some 
severe  invectives  against  Dissent. 

This  apparently  congenial  task  led  to  an  unexpected 
result.  The  political  Dissenter  saw  the  error  of  his 
ways.  Saul  became  Paul,  and  the  Anglican  ministry 
gained  a  valuable  recruit  in  the  person  of  Samuel 
Wesley.  Neither  Samuel  nor  John  was  inclined  to 
spare  an  antagonist,  and  to  enter  the  lists  against 
either  was  a  prospect  sufficiently  terrible.  The  Wesley 
intellect  was  acutely  logical ;  and  satire  was  their 
native  element,  from  which,  at  the  height  of  evangelical 
fervour,  they  escaped  with  difficulty. 

Samuel  Wesley's  inclination  for  polemics  probably 
reached  its  acme  during  a  fierce  Lincolnshire  election,  in 
which  he  was  compelled  to  "  rat,"  in  order  to  preserve 
a  larger  consistency  and  maintain  inviolate  his  loyalty 
to  the  Church.  The  "  Isle  people  "  went  the  other  way 
and  revenged  themselves  on  the  parson  by  drumming, 
shouting,  and  firing  off  pistols  and  guns,  under  the 
window  of  the  room  in  which  his  wife  lay  after  a 
recent  confinement.  This  may  be  termed  mob-argu- 
ment, and  it  contradicted,  in  every  particular,  the 
methods  and  manners  of  the  inmates. 

The  rector's  children  were  carefully  trained  in  the 
duties  of  their  station  and — please,  remark  ! — were 
taught  politeness  towards  inferiors  no  less  than  towards 


KITH  AND  KIN 


7 


their  equals.  In  Susanna  Wesley's  girlhood,  when  the 
traditions  of  university  education  and  State  patronage 
still  lingered  in  Nonconformist  circles,  the  social  dis- 
parity between  the  Anglican  clerg}^  and  their  rivals 
was  hardly  perceptible ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
names  of  both  husband  and  wife — the  former  slightly- 
modified — adorn  the  pages  of  Burke.  Rather  curiously, 
the  aristocratic  connection  is,  in  each  case,  Hibernian. 

Mrs.  Wesley  was  related,  though  not  in  any  near 
degree,  to  the  Earl  of  Anglesey,  a  statesman  whom 
Bishop  Burnet  describes  as  "  a  man  of  grave  deport- 
ment," but  who,  in  spite  of  gravity,  "  stuck  at  nothing, 
and  was  ashamed  of  nothing."  The  common  ancestor 
of  this  nobleman  and  Dr.  Samuel  Annesley  was  Robert 
Annesley,  Esq.,  of  Newport-Pagnell,  who,  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  aided  in  suppressing  the  rebellion  of  the 
Earl  of  Desmond.  Rewarded  with  lands  in  Ireland,  he 
settled  in  that  country  as  an  "undertaker,"  i.e.  as  a 
coloniser.  His  son,  Francis  Annesley,  was  created  by 
Charles  I.  Baron  Mountnorris  and  Viscount  Valentia  in 
the  peerage  of  Ireland. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Arthur,  Robert 
Annesley 's  grandson,  first  took  the  side  of  the  king, 
but  afterwards  passed  over  to  the  Parliament.  At  the 
critical  juncture  of  the  Restoration,  he  not  only 
supported  Monk,  but  was  his  principal  coadjutor  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  For  this  important  and 
dangerous  service — he  had  succeeded  to  the  Irish  titles 
and  estates  in  16G0 — he  was  created  Baron  Annesley 
and  Earl  of  Anglesey  in  the  peerage  of  England. 

Bishop  Burnet  notwithstanding,  Lord  Anglesey  was 
no  worthless  renegade.  As  Arthur  Annesley  he  had 
obtained  possession  of  the  original  MS.  of  the  "  Eikon 


8  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Basilike,"  and,  what  was  more,  had  enjoyed  the  friend- 
ship of  him  who  answered  it.  When  Milton,  '  fallen 
on  evil  days,"  published  his  History  of  England,  the 
public  licenser  cut  out  the  portion  relating  to  the  Long 
Parliament.  The  author  applied  to  Lord  Anglesey, 
who  exerted  his  influence,  and  with  such  effect  that 
the  description  was  reinserted,  and  the  work  published 
entire. 

Thus  the  former  Commonwealth  man  did  not  forget 
old  friends.  Indeed,  Lord  Anglesey  is  said  to  have 
chosen  his  domestic  chaplains  from  the  ranks  of  the 
ejected.  Nor  was  he  indifferent  to  his  cousin,  Dr. 
Annesley,  whom  he  advised,  but  advised  in  vain,  to 
conform.  Financially,  the  point  was  of  small  con- 
sequence. Annesley,  says  one  of  his  sons-in-law,  "  had 
a  good  estate  and  scorned  to  be  rich  while  any  man 
was  poor."  Neither  peer  nor  preacher,  however, 
appears  to  have  done  anything  for  the  Wesleys — a 
circumstance,  to  a  biographer,  very  odd. 

When  the  Wesleys  had  been  for  some  years  at 
Epworth,  a  Mr.  Garrett  Wesley,  who  had  landed  estates 
in  Ireland,  sent  to  inquire  of  the  rector  whether  among 
his  sons  there  was  any  of  the  name  of  Charles.  Should 
that  be  so,  he  was  willing  to  adopt  him  and  appoint 
him  his  heir.  The  decision  was  referred  to  Charles 
Wesley,  then  a  Westminster  scholar,  by  whom  the 
offer  was  declined.  Mr.  Garrett  Wesley  chose  in  his 
stead  a  scion  of  the  house  of  Colley,  and  a  maternal 
relation  of  his  own.  This  Richard  Colley  Wesley 
became  Barron  Mornington,  and  his  son,  Garrett, 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  an  earldom,  was  the  well- 
known  composer. 

In  his  old  age  Charles  Wesley,  who  had  made,  as 


KITH  AND  KIN 


9 


his  brother  thought,  such  a  fair  escape,  came  to  know 
the  second  Lord  Mornington ;  and  the  peer-musician 
used  to  engage  in  weekly  practices  at  his  friend's 
house  with  Wesley's  talented  sons,  Charles  and  Samuel. 
He  both  loved  and  revered  their  father,  and,  writing 
to  him,  observes,  "  I  can  with  truth  say  that  I  esteem 
the  commencement  of  your  acquaintance  one  of  the 
happiest  moments  of  my  life." 

Even  this  coincidence  does  not  exhaust  the  network 
of  relationships.  The  Earl  of  Mornington's  godmother 
was  a  Mrs.  Delany,  who  had  been  Mrs.  Pendarvis. 
The  lady's  maiden  name  was  Granville,  and  she  was 
a  niece  of  the  first  Lord  Lansdowne.  Now  the  "  Cyrus  " 
of  her  Correspondence,  which  was  published,  with  her 
Autobiography,  in  1862,  has  been  ascertained  to  have 
been  John  Wesley,  the  collegian.  Her  own  pseudonym, 
as  Mrs.  Pendarvis,  was  "  Aspasia." 

In  1733  she  wrote  from  Dangan,  one  of  the  Mor- 
nington estates:  "As  to  the  ridicule  that  Cyrus  has 
been  exposed  to,  I  do  not  at  all  wonder  at  it.  Religion 
in  its  plainest  dress  sutlers  daily  from  the  insolence 
and  ignorance  of  the  world.  How  much,  then,  can 
that  person  escape  who  appears  openly  in  its  cause  ? " 
t:  Aspasia's"  last  letter  to  "  Cyrus  "  is  dated  1734.  The 
year  after,  Wesley  departed  for  Georgia,  and  "  Cyrus  " 
and  "  Aspasia  "  corresponded  no  more. 

The  Earl  of  Mornington,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
recall,  was  the  father  of  the  Marquess  Wellesley  and 
the  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  Marquess  rid  himself 
of  the  Wesley  name  and  the  Wesley  estates.  The 
younger  and  more  famous  brother  continued  to  be 
known  as  Arthur  Wesley  "  till  he  was  thirty.  After- 
wards he  appears  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  change  of 


io         WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


nomenclature ;  and  in  the  Army  List  of  1801  his  name 
is  given,  for  the  first  time,  as  "  Wellesley."  It  would 
be  of  some  interest  to  learn  the  motive  of  the  change. 
Was  the  name  "  Wesley,"  the  condition  of  fortune,  too 
mean  in  itself,  or  had  it  become  debased  by  its  asso- 
ciations ?  Wellesley  is  certainly  the  more  sounding 
patronymic. 

The  Epworth  family  was  miserably  poor.  The  head 
of  the  house  was  imprisoned  for  debt,  and  owed  hi3 
release  from  severe  difficulties  to  public  subscription 
organised  by  Archbishop  Sharp.  But,  in  the  midst  of 
their  troubles,  the  Wesleys  preserved  their  self-respect, 
and  even  indulged  a  little  pride.  This  was  especially 
the  case  with  reference  to  matrimonial  alliances. 

"  My  brother  Charles,"  says  John  Wesley,  "  had  an 
attachment  in  early  youth  to  an  amiable  girl  of  inferior 
birth.  This  was  much  opposed  by  my  mother  and  her 
family,  who  mentioned  it  with  concern  to  my  uncle. 
Finding  from  my  father  that  this  was  the  chief  objec- 
tion, my  uncle  only  replied,  '  Then  there  is  no  family 
blood  ?  I  hear  the  girl  is  good,  but  of  no  family.' 
'  Nor  fortune  either,'  said  my  mother.  He  made  no 
reply,  but  sent  my  brother  a  sum  of  money  as  a 
wedding-present,  and,  I  believe,  sincerely  regretted  that 
he  was  ultimately  crossed  in  his  inclination." 1 

f  1  Charles,  however,  duly  profited  hy  the  lesson.  When  his  brother 
John  was  old  enough  to  know  better,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  uniting 
himself  in  the  bands  of  matrimony  to  a  Mrs.  Grace  Murray,  described 
as  a  "very  pious  and  respectable  woman,"  but  not  his  equal  in  rank. 
Mr.  Charles  took  the  matter  adroitly  in  hand,  and,  with  Mr.  White- 
field  as  an  ally,  effected  the  marriage  of  the  lady  with  a  Mr.  Bennett, 
one  of  the  preachers,  during  her  lover's  absence.  On  being  informed  of 
his  fate,  the  disappointed  swain  ruefully  confessed  that  "the  sons  of 
Zeruiah  were  too  strong  for  him  " 


KITH  AND  KIN 


Probably  it  was  pride,  quite  as  much  as  politics,  that 
rendered  the  Wesleys  unpopular  in  Lincolnshire.  Their 
most  reputable  neighbours — small  landowners  or  yeo- 
men of  parsimonious  habits — were  not  of  the  class 
the  clergy  prefer  to  visit  with ;  and  it  is  clear  that  on 
social  matters  the  Wesleys  (or,  perhaps,  the  Annesleys) 
had  very  positive  notions.  When  the  burning  of  the 
rectory  caused  a  temporary  separation  of  the  family, 
Mrs.  Wesley  regretted  the  associations  amongst  which 
her  children  were  thrown,  and  which  led,  among  other 
disasters,  to  the  acquisition  of  a  faulty  accent.  The 
regret  was  intelligible  enough  in  a  careful  mother,  but 
such  fastidiousness  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
ingratiate  her  with  the  uneducated  and  scornful  boors, 
who  drummed,  and  shouted,  and  fired  off  pistols  and 
guns. 

The  fire  itself,  preceded  by  a  rehearsal,  was,  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe,  the  work  of  an  incendiary. 
John  Wesley,  then  a  child  of  five,  always  regarded  it 
as  one  of  the  capital  events  of  his  life,  and  well  he 
might,  seeing  that  he  narrowly  escaped  an  untimely 
end. 

"  God  saved  him,"  says  his  father,  "  by  almost  a 
miracle.  He  only  was  forgot  by  the  servants  in  the 
hurry.  He  ran  to  the  window  towards  the  yard, 
stood  upon  a  chair,  and  cried  for  help.  There  were 
now  a  few  people  gathered,  one  of  whom,  who  loves 
me,  helped  another  up  to  the  window.  The  child, 
seeing  a  man  come  into  the  window,  was  frightened,  and 
ran  away  to  get  to  his  mother's  chamber.  He  could 
not  open  the  door,  so  ran  back  again.  The  man  was 
fallen  down  from  the  window,  and  all  the  bed  and 
hangings  in  the  room  where  he  was  were  blazing. 


12  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


They  helped  up  the  man  the  second  time,  and  poor 
Jacky  leaped  into  his  arms,  and  was  saved.  I  could 
not  believe  it  till  I  had  kissed  him  two  or  three  times." 

When,  in  later  life,  Wesley  became  saturated  with 
the  idea  of  hell,  he  looked  back  to  this  incident  as 
emblematical  of  another  conflagration  and  another 
escape.  Under  one  of  his  portraits  is  engraved  a 
house  in  flames,  and  beneath  that  a  motto,  to  Wesley 
endless]}^  suggestive — "  Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  out 
^  of  the  burning  ?  " 

The  restoration  of  the  parsonage  brought  with  it,  out- 
wardly, an  almost  idyllic  change.  Instead  of  "  foul 
beasts  "  and  "  Erymanthean  boars,"  we  hear  of  fronts 
planted  with  wall-fruit;  of  mulberry  trees,  cherry 
trees,  and  pear  trees  set  in  the  garden,  and  of  walnuts 
in  the  adjoining  croft.  The  sequel,  however,  was  not 
quite  in  accord  with  the  tranquillity  that  "  the  purest 
of  all  human  pleasures "  might  seem  to  promise.  On 
December  1,  1716,  twenty  years  after  the  first  arrival 
of  the  Wesleys  at  Epworth,  the  peace  of  the  new  home 
was  effectually  broken  by  the  inauguration  of  a  series 
of  disturbances  supposed  to  be  supernatural. 

The  noises — there  was  more  hearing  than  seeing — 
were  multiform,  or,  at  least,  sounded  differently  to 
different  ears.  Sometimes  they  resembled  "  the  dismal 
groans  of  one  in  extremes,  at  the  point  to  die."  At 
other  times,  the  gobblings  of  a  turkey-cock  furnished 
a  more  accurate  simile.  When  the  visitant  approached, 
the  air  was  charged  with  ^Eolian  music.  The  observers 
attained  to  a  remarkable  degree  of  precision  in  defining 
their  impressions.  A  vivid  description  was  that  of  a 
man  mounting  the  stairs  in  jackboots,  and  trailing  a 
nightgown  after  him. 


KITH  AND  KIN 


13 


To  recount  all  the  phenomena  would  be  pleasant, 
but  unscrupulous.  Hardly  any  trick  or  device  that 
could  mystify  the  mind  or  work  upon  the  feelings  was 
omitted.  The  rector's  characteristic  knock  "  three- 
times-three  "  was  mimicked,  and  one  Sunday  at  dinner 
his  trencher  frolicked  on  the  table.  His  daughter 
Nancy  was  sitting  on  a  bed,  when  it  was  lifted 
repeatedly  to  a  considerable  height.  Jumping  off,  she  ex- 
claimed, "  Surely  Old  Jeffrey  won't  run  away  with  me  ! " 

"  Old  Jeffrey "  was  the  nickname  bestowed  on  the"^ 
ghost,  and,  in  course  of  time,  when  it  was  found  that 
no  harm  resulted,  the  expression  passed  into  a  term 
of  endearment.  The  younger  children  are  in  bed. 
They  hear  the  soft  tapping.  But  they  are  not 
frightened.  They  only  say  to  each  other,  "  Old 
Jeffrey  is  coming ;  it  is  time  to  go  to  sleep."  And,  to 
beat  all,  little  Kezzy  amuses  herself  by  chasing  the 
strange  noises  from  room  to  room  and  stamping  with 
her  childish  foot  in  order  to  attract  a  response. 

Altogether,  it  was  an  extraordinary  affair,  and  one 
that  cannot  be  explained  by  credulity  or  superstition  in 
the  Wesleys.  The  rector  began  by  scolding  his  chil- 
dren, but  afterwards,  by  dint  of  experience,  succumbed 
to  their  belief.  The  strong-minded  Emilia,  in  a  letter, 
delivers  herself  of  the  following  remarks : — 

"  I  am  so  far  from  being  superstitious  that  I  was  too 
much  inclined  to  infidelity,  so  that  I  heartily  rejoice  at 
having  such  an  opportunity  of  convincing  myself,  past 
doubt  or  scruple,  of  the  existence  of  some  things 
besides  those  we  see.  A  whole  month  was  sufficient 
to  convince  anybody  of  the  reality  of  the  thing,  and 
to  try  all  ways  of  discovering  any  trick,  had  it  been 
possible  for  any  such  to  have  been  used." 


14  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


What  interpretation  can  be  given  of  the  events  ? 
To  this  question  several  answers  have  been  returned. 
Southey  very  properly  rejects  ordinary  and  obvious 
explanations — rats,  collusion,  or  legerdemain — as  in- 
adequate to  the  circumstances,  and  seeks  repose  in 
the  famous  intimation  to  Horatio — "There's  more  in 
heaven  and  earth  than  is  dreamed  of  in  your  philo- 
sophy." Isaac  Taylor  favours  the  belief  that  the 
actors  were  neither  good  angels  nor  evil  angels,  but 
silly  elemental  spirits,  like  Queen  Titania  or  Queen 
Mab,  holding  high  holiday. 

This  is  certainly  a  bold  attempt  to  dispose  of  a 
problem  that  arises  in  connection  with  so  many  well- 
authenticated  ghost  stories — their  apparently  motive- 
less character.  What  is  the  use  of  ghosts  "  hanging 
around "  in  the  way  they  so  often  do  ?  Southey 
hints,  to  convince  materialists  of  the  existence  of  an 
invisible  world.  Perhaps.  Emilia  Wesley  was  "  inclined 
to  infidelity."  On  this  assumption  the  Epworth  fairies 
did  their  work  well,  and  need  not  be  called  silly. 

Coleridge  takes  quite  another  line,  and  interprets 
after  this  fashion.  "  What  was  it  ?  Why,  a  contagious 
nervous  disease,  the  acme  or  intensest  form  of  which  is 
catalepsy."  Coleridge's  opinion  is  entitled  to  profound 
respect,  but  this  particular  view  strikes  one  as  more 
feasible  than  probable,  as  an  anodyne  to  lull  perplexity 
and  save  trouble.  It  is  very  well  to  talk  of  catalepsy, 
but  there  could  not  have  been  much  of  catalepsy  in 
Kezzy  hilariously  pursuing  Mr.  Ghost.  Truly,  it  is  a 
great  crux. 

The  episode  of  Old  Jeffrey's  antics  has  been  referred 
to  at  some  length,  because  it  helps  to  account  for  a 
notable  trait  in  the  character  of  John  Wesley.  The 


KITH  AND  KIN 


15 


eighteenth  century  prided  itself  on  being  an  age  of 
reason,  and  yet  whole  pages  of  John  Wesley's  Journal 
are  filled  with  reports  of  special  providences,  appari- 
tions, magic  mirrors,  and  the  like.  Wesley  was 
savingly  convinced  of  witchcraft.  With  him,  not  to 
believe  in  witchcraft  was  to  count  yourself  out  of  the 
number  of  true  believers  in  the  Bible. 

What  did  John  Wesley  make  of  the  Epworth 
mystery  ?  Well,  that  excellent  divine  had  a  portable 
dens  (or,  rather,  diabolus)  ex  machina,  whose  office 
it  was  to  extricate  him  from  all  possible  intellectual 
mazes  and  cataleptic  nightmares.  Whenever  anything 
untoward  happened,  which  a  purely  physiological 
interpretation  would  have  ascribed  to  catalepsy  or 
hysteria, — induced  perhaps  by  his  own  oratory, — 
Wesley,  nimbly  surmounting  secondary  causes,  flew 
to  the  prime  author  of  that  and  every  woe — to  Satan. 
He  did  so  in  this  instance. 

Frankly,  John  Wesley  believed  that  "  Old  Jeffre}' " 
was  a  messenger  of  Satan,  sent  to  buftet  his  father. 
It  appears  that  Mrs.  Wesley  had  declined  to  say  Amen 
to  the  prayer  for  the  king,  and  her  husband,  nettled 
by  her  refusal,  had  vowed  to  desert  his  family. 
According  to  John  Wesley's  hermeneutics  the  raison 
d'etre  of  "  Old  Jeffrey  "  was  to  bring  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Wesley  to  a  proper  frame  of  mind  respecting  that 
rash  vow. 

If  the  rector  of  Epworth  had  any  important  defect, 
it  was  harshness,  imperiousness.  He  had  the  qualities 
of  a  martinet.  One  habit  for  which  he  has  been 
generally  commended  was  that  of  systematic  pastoral 
visitation.  He  made  the  tour  of  his  large  parish, 
closel}-  interrogating  the  members  of  his  scattered  flock 


6         WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


as  to  their  state  of  mind.  Probably  Wesley  was 
conscientious  enough  to  present  himself  in  this 
capacity,  even  more  unpopular  than  that  of  tithe- 
collector,  to  all  classes  of  his  parishioners ;  but,  com- 
monly speaking,  it  is  one  of  the  burdens  of  the  poor  to 
have  to  endure  the  inquisitions  of  "  callow  clergymen  " 
— Samuel  Wesley  distrusted  "  callow  clergymen " — 
and  fussy  district  visitors,  anxious  to  certify  that  they 
are  truly  resigned  to  their  numerous  ills. 

Samuel  Wesley's  style  of  intercourse  aimed  at  what 
he  calls  "  well  -  ordered  familiarity."  This  clever 
phrase  no  doubt  signified  that  he  was,  or  tried  to  be, 
extremely  pleasant  to  Jack,  and  Tom,  and  Dick,  and 
Toby,  but  that  he  kept  his  place,  and  took  care  that 
they  kept  theirs.  One  sees  a  reflexion  of  this  "well- 
ordered  familiarity  "  in  John  Wesley's  relations  with  his 
preachers.  In  his  letters,  and  doubtless  in  his  personal 
greetings,  he  addressed  them  as  "  Dear  Sammy  "  and 
"  Dear  Billy,"  but  let  any  of  them — William  Moore, 
for  instance — show  symptoms  of  independence,  and 
Wesley  writes  of  him  as  a  castaway.  The  man's 
heart,  he  thinks,  is  not  right  with  God. 

At  Epworth  the  parish  clerk  appears  at  times  to 
have  got  out  of  hand.  Indeed,  it  may  be  predicated  of 
parish  clerks  as  a  body  that  they  believed  in  them- 
selves, and,  in  their  official  character,  often  served 
better  as  illustrations  of  familiarity  than  of  good 
order.  Did  Samuel  Wesley  ever  indulge  his  sense  of 
humour  at  the  expense  of  propriety  ?  There  is  some 
doubt  about  this.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  Stern- 
hold  and  Hopkins,  execrable  as  was  their  metrical 
psalter,  did  not  furnish  opportunity  for  that  possibly 
mythical  dialogue,  which,  nevertheless,  Adam  Clarke 


KITH  AND  KIN 


17 


avers  he  received  from  Samuel  Wesley's  son.  The 
minister  having  read, 

"  Like  to  an  owl  in  an  ivy-bush, :' 

his  satellite,  out  of  the  recess  of  Mr.  Wesley's  late  wig, 
is  said  to  have  responded  with  an  approach  to  literal 
truth, 

"That  fearsome  thing,  am  I." 

However  that  may  be,  the  worthy  clerk  did  not  stick 
at  superseding  "  Grandsire  Sternhold "  in  his  own 
favour.  One  Sunday  he  celebrated  King  William's 
return  to  London  by  announcing  in  loud  tones,  "  Let 
us  sing  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God,  a  hymn  of  my 
own  composing : 

"  King  William  is  come  home,  come  home, 
King  William  home  is  come ! 
Therefore  let  us  together  sing 
The  hymn  that's  called  Te  D'um." 

The  congregation  at  Epworth  had  "  a  strange  genius 
at  understanding  nonsense,"  and,  for  the  sake  of  peace 
and  quietness,  Samuel  Wesley  postponed  his  own 
liking  for  anthems  and  cathedral  music  to  the  taste  of 
his  parishioners.  But  he  resolutely  set  himself  to 
educate  the  people  in  music  and  morals,  and  at  last 
had  the  gratification  of  witnessing  a  marked  improve- 
ment in  both  these  respects.  When  Dr.  Clarke  visited 
Epworth,  he  questioned  the  old  folks  about  the  father 
of  the  Wesleys,  and  found  lingering  among  them  the 
memory  of  a  beloved  and  venerable  clergyman,  who 
had  helped  and  instructed  them  in  their  youth.  On 
the  whole,  Samuel  Wesley  seems  to  have  justified 
the  younger  Samuel's  description  : 
2 


1 8  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


"A  parish  priest — not  of  the  pilgrim  kind, 
But  fixed  and  faithful  to  the  post  assigned — 
Through  various  scenes,  with  equal  virtue  trod, 
True  to  his  oath,  his  order,  and  his  God." 

Mrs.  Wesley  thought  her  gifted  husband  thrown 
away  on  such  a  place  as  Epworth,  and  the  fact  that  he 
was  sent  again  and  again  to  Convocation  proves  that 
he  stood  well  in  the  estimation  of  his  brother-clergy. 
But  he  never  obtained  higher  preferment,  and  died  in 
his  country  parish,  April  25,  1735,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two. 

The  exact  number  of  his  immediate  descendants  is 
somewhat  doubtful.  The  rector  himself  speaks  of 
^  "a  numerous  offspring,  eighteen  or  nineteen  children," 
but  several  died  early.  John  Wesley  describes  his 
mother  as  serenely  inditing  letters,  transacting  busi- 
ness, and  holding  conversations  in  the  midst  of  her 
thirteen  children.  But  there  must  have  been  further 
gaps,  as  only  ten — three  sons  and  seven  daughters — 
arrived  at  maturity.  Of  these  John  and  Charles  were 
the  most  conspicuous,  but  others  of  the  family  had 
strange,  eventful  histories,  which  might  well  occupy 
our  attention.  Samuel  and  Hetty,  as  poets,  have  a 
distinct  claim  to  be  remembered. 

For  one  year  after  quitting  his  mother's  side,  and 
before  going  to  school,  Samuel  had  a  tutor,  one  John 
Holland,  "whose  kindness,"  writes  the  rector  to  his 
son,  "you  bear  on  your  knuckles."  Holland  was  a 
rakish  young  clergyman,  who  had  been  turned  out  of 
thirteen  posts,  had  ruined  his  father,  and  was  probably 
employed  by  the  Wesleys  out  of  charity  to  his  mother. 
The  parson  tells  a  weird  story  of  this  scapegrace. 

"  Your  old  schoolmaster  was  making  homewards 


KITH  AND  KIN 


9 


about  a  month  or  six  weeks  since,  and  got  within  ten 
or  a  dozen  miles  of  Epworth,  where  he  fell  sick  out  of 
rage  or  despair.  He  was  taken  home  in  a  common 
cart,  and  has  been  almost  mad  ever  since.  Peter 
Foster,  the  Anabaptist  preacher,  gave  him  twopence  to 
buy  him  some  brandy,  and  thought  he  was  very 
generous.  His  mother  fell  a-cursing  God  when  she 
saw  him.  She  has  just  been  with  me  to  beg  the 
assistance  of  the  parish  for  him.  What  think  you  of 
this  example  ? " 

Samuel  entered  Westminster  School  in  1704,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen.  Mrs.  Wesley,  mindful  perhaps  of  the 
"  example,"  continued  to  watch  over  him.  "  Have  a 
care,"  she  writes.  "  Stay  at  the  third  glass.  Consider 
you  have  an  obligation  to  strict  temperance  which  all 
have  not — I  mean  your  designation  to  holy  orders." 
It  was  no  doubt  a  great  thing  for  both  father  and 
mother  to  see  their  firstborn  son  installed  as  a 
King's  scholar,  but  it  is  clear  that  they  were  infinitely 
more  concerned  about  his  spiritual  interests  than  about 
either  his  intellectual  progress  or  his  worldly  advance- 
ment. 

Westminster  was  then  easily  first  of  the  English 
public  schools,  and  abounded  in  old  and  inspiring 
associations.  The  dean,  Thomas  Sprat,  conceived  a 
high  opinion  of  young  Wesley,  whom  he  drove  with 
him  to  his  country  house  at  Bromley.  The  protegd, 
however,  was  not  grateful  for  these  attentions,  and 
complained  that  they  distracted  him  from  study 
proper.  "  He  has  chosen  me  out  of  all  the  scholars 
that  I  should  read  books  to  him  at  night — hoarse  and 
shortsighted  me ! " 

In  1711  the  burdensome  old  gentleman  died,  and 


20         WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


was  succeeded  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Atterbury.  The 
same  year  Samuel  proceeded  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
where,  a  true  Wesley,  he  plunged  into  the  Whistonian 
controversy  regarding  the  "  Ignatian  Epistles."  Having 
taken  his  degree,  he  was  ordained  and  returned  to 
Westminster  as  usher  or  third  master. 

Atterbury  and  he  became  fast  friends,  and  as  he 
was  on  easy  terms  with  Edward  Harley,  Earl  of 
Oxford,  and  with  literary  "stars," — Pope  and  Prior, 
Addison  and  Swift, — Samuel  Wesley  doubtless  antici- 
pated a  brilliant  future.  It  never  came.  That  friend- 
ship with  Atterbury  stood  in  the  way  of  promotion, 
and  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  indeed  after  his  death, 
Wesley  laboured  under  the  suspicion  of  Jacobitism. 
His  daughter  expressly  affirmed  that  he  was  a  Jacobite, 
but  John  Wesley  as  expressly  denied  the  allegation, 
which  he  attributed  to  ignorance,  to  misconception  of 
the  family  politics,  and,  above  all,  to  confusion  of  the 
terms  "  Tory  "  and  "  Jacobite." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  December 
24, 1785,  the  only  surviving  brother  discusses  the  topic 
at  large.  He  observes :  "  Most  of  those  who  gave  him 
this  title  did  not  distinguish  between  a  Jacobite  and 
a  Tory,  whereby  I  mean,  '  one  that  believes  God,  not 
the  people,  to  be  the  origin  of  all  civil  power.'  In  this 
sense  he  was  a  Tory;  so  was  my  father;  so  am  I. 
But  I  am  no  more  a  Jacobite  than  I  am  a  Turk; 
neither  was  my  brother.  I  have  heard  him  over  and 
over  again  disclaim  that  character." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Samuel  Wesley  never  attained 
what  was  perhaps  the  summit  of  his  ambition.  He 
never  became  Dean  of  Westminster.  He  never  became 
even  headmaster.     After  nearly  twenty  years  spent 


KITH  AND  KIN 


in  that  institution,  he  migrated  to  Blundell's  School, 
Tiverton,  where  he  felt  himself  in  a  "  desert,"  and  was 
vastly  unpopular  both  in  the  school  and  in  the  town. 
A  rhyming  chronicle  of  the  masters  bans  him  as 

"  Curst  with  excessive  pride." 
The  Wesleys,  as  we  have  seen,  were  proud.  On  the 
other  hand,  Samuel  Wesley  was  an  ideal  character  to 
fail  in  a  country  town.  Endowed  with  taste  and 
sensibility,  and  tenderly  alive  to  the  decencies  of 
religion,  he  must  have  abhorred  the  usages  of  a  place, 
where  a  gentleman-jockey  was  more  a  hero  than  him- 
self, and  the  clergy  were  evidently  so-so.1 

Although  he  was  so  accomplished  a  scholar,  Samuel 
Wesley's  literary  remains  are  all  comprised  in  a 
slender  volume  of  poems.  His  muse  is  part  sacred, 
part  satirical.  Some  of  his  hymns  are  sung  to  this 
day.  His  talent  for  satire  may  be  inferred  from  his 
epigram  on  the  cenotaph  erected  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  a.d.  1721,  as  a  memorial  of  the  creator  of 
Hudibras : 

"  While  Butler,  needy  wretch !  was  yet  alive, 

No  generous  patron  would  a  dinner  give  ; 

See  him,  when  starved  to  death  and  turn'd  to  dust, 

Presented  with  a  monumental  bust  ! 

The  poet's  fate  is  here  in  emblem  shewn — 

He  asked  for  bread,  and  he  received  a  stone." 

1  In  1751,  twelve  years  after  his  brother  had  quitted,  not  only  his 
"desert"  in  Devonshire,  but  earth's  "howling  wilderness,"  John 
Wesley  visited  Tiverton,  and  this  is  what  he  writes:  "There  was  a 
sermon  preached  at  the  Old  Church  before  the  trustees  of  the  school. 
At  half  an  hour  past  twelve  the  morning  service  began,  but  such  insuf- 
ferable noise  and  confusion  I  never  saw  before  in  a  place  of  worship — 
no,  not  even  in  a  Jewish  synagogue.  The  clergy  set  the  example, 
laughing  and  talking  during  the  greater  part  of  the  prayers  and 
sermon." 


22  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Samuel  Wesley  died  at  Tiverton,  iu  1739,  at  the  age 
of  forty-nine;  and  a  florid  epitaph  in  St.  George's 
Churchyard  reminded,  and  reminds,  town  and  gown  of 
the  many  virtues  of  the  dead  schoolmaster. 

Mehetabel,  or  Hetty,  was  the  fourth  and  far  the 
brightest  of  the  septette  of  sisters.  She  was  also  her 
father's  favourite.  When  only  eight,  she  could  read 
the  Greek  Testament  with  ease,  but  hours  in  the 
library  did  not  take  from  her  natural  lightheadedness. 
She  grew  up  a  pretty  girl,  with  charming  ways,  and 
lovers  were  legion.  But,  in  a  question  of  marriage, 
the  Wesleys  were  not  complaisant.  Then  it  was 
Mother,  then  Brother  John,  who  interfered,  and,  of 
course,  the  girls  made  wretched  matches. 

In  Hetty's  case,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley  himself 
|  non-suited.  A  member  of  the  legal  profession  applied 
for  her,  and  was  candidly  informed  that  he  must  wait 
until  inquiries  had  been  made  as  to  his  character. 
The  result  was  unfavourable.  The  suitor  was 
adjudged  "  an  unprincipled  lawyer,"  and  his  application 
rejected.  What  followed?  Only  this — Hetty  left 
Epworth,  and  married  a  plumber  and  glazier  of 
London,  called  Wright. 

It  has  been  mooted  that  this  marriage  was  forced  on 
Hetty  by  her  father,  but  unless  there  was  more  in  the 
case  than  has  ever  leaked  out,  he  had  no  conceivable 
motive  for  adopting  such  a  course.  The  man  was 
poor;  he  was  uneducated;  and  Hetty's  uncle,  who 
apparently  did  not  mind  mesalliances,  enabled  him  to 
set  up  in  business  by  a  gift  of  five  hundred  pounds. 
The  probability  is  that  Hetty  married  him  out  of 
pique,  and  that  her  father  knew  nothing  of  the  rash 
step  until  it  was  irrevocable. 


KITH  AND  KIN 


23 


Of  course  she  was  thoroughly  miserable,  but  she 
made  Wright  a  better  wife  than  he  deserved,  and 
lavished  her  love  upon  him,  just  as  if  he  were  a 
king,  or,  perhaps,  a  saint.  He  was  no  saint.  He  spent 
his  nights  in  public-houses,  and  the  graceful  poetess 
sought  to  recall  him  to  his  duty  by  warm  expressions 
of  conjugal  devotion : 

"For  though  thine  absence  I  lament, 
When  half  the  lonely  night  is  spent ; 
Yet  when  the  watch  or  early  morn 
Has  brought  me  hopes  of  thy  return, 
I  oft  have  wiped  these  watchful  eyes, 
Concealed  my  cares,  and  curb'd  my  sighs, 
In  spite  of  grief,  to  let  thee  see 
I  wore  an  endless  smile  for  thee." 

Hetty  lost  all  her  children,  killed,  as  she  believed, 
by  the  white  lead  of  her  husband's  trade ;  and,  wailing 
one  of  her  dying  blossoms,  she  would  gladly-  have 
shared  its  fate.  When,  at  a  later  period,  she  was 
consoled  in  some  measure  by  the  ministrations  of  her 
brothers,  she  remarked  with  native  impetuosity,  "I 
have  long  ardently  wished  for  death,  because,  you 
know,  we  Methodists  always  die  in  a  transport  of  joy." 
But  Hetty  never  realised  this  compensation.  In  1750, 
when  all  London  was  in  a  frenzy  through  a  succession 
of  earthquakes,  she  passed  away  in  darkness,  doubt, 
and  fear. 


CHAPTER  II 


FIRST-FRUITS 

Boyhood— At  the  Charterhouse — Interview  with  Dr.  Sacheverell 
—  Fellow  of  Lincoln  —  University  Manners  —  The  Name 
"Methodist"  — The  Holy  Club  —  A  Family  Difference- 
Colonisation  of  Georgia  —  The  Wesleys'  Missionary  Enter- 
prise—  A  Great  Storm  —  Intercourse  with  Moravians  — 
Rough  Quarters — The  Hopkey  Affair. 

John,  the  second  son  and  seventh  child  of  Samuel 
Wesley's  "  numerous  offspring," — of  such  "  offspring," 
that  is  to  say,  as  survived  and  can  be  accounted  for, — 
was  born  on  the  17th  of  June  1703.  As  a  child, 
he  was  docile  and  obedient,  and  knew  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  His  mother  taught  him  that  the  essence 
of  religion  lay  in  keeping  the  Commandments,  and  he 
kept  them  to  such  purpose  that,  when  he  was  only 
eight,  his  father  allowed  him  to  communicate. 

Even  after  conversion,  John  Wesley  looked  back 
to  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  with  considerable 
approval.  He  believed  that,  so  far,  he  had  not  sinned 
away  the  washing  of  the  Holy  Ghost  given  him  in 
baptism.  It  is  true  that  he  neither  understood  nor 
remembered  what  was  said  to  him  about  inward 
obedience.  He  was  ignorant  of  the  true  meaning  of 
the  law,  and  still  more  ignorant  of  the  gospel  of 


FIRST-FRUITS 


25 


Christ.  But,  as  regards  outward  duties,  he  welcomed 
instruction,  and  that  is  pretty  well  for  a  boy  under  ten. 

The  next  six  or  seven  years  were  spent  at  school, 
and  to  this  period  of  his  life  he  looked  back  with 
some,  though  not  utter,  dissatisfaction. '  He  neglected 
outward  duties,  and,  though  never  involved  in  public 
scandal,  committed  outward  sins.  He  had  faulty  ideas 
of  the  conditions  of  salvation,  and  he  had  a  slight 
taint  of  Pharisaism,  but  he  still  read  the  Scriptures, 
still  said  his  prayers,  and  that  is  pretty  well  for  a  boy 
under  twenty. 

Rising  amid  the  cries  of  London,  of  which,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  there  was  a  handsome  variety,  stood 
a  building  which  was  at  once  a  seminary  for  youth  and 
a  haven  of  repose  for  decayed  single  gentlemen.  The 
master,  or  head  of  the  pensioners — the  now  venerable 
Thomas  Burnet — was  not  only  a  man  of  parts,  but  a 
man  of  character.  Thirty  years  before,  he  had  defied 
a  Romanist  king  and  a  "hanging"  judge — even 
Jeffreys.  When  Burnet  died,  as  he  did  in  1715,  he 
was  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  King,  of  whom  John 
Byrom,  poet,  writes  in  his  Journal:  "Went  with 
Massey  and  Dr.  King,  Master  of  the  Charterhouse,  and 
one  Mr.  Nichols  to  the  Horn  Tavern ;  Dr.  King  had 
Thomas  a  Kempis  always  in  his  pocket."  It  is 
perhaps  more  than  a  coincidence  that,  at  Oxford,  John 
Wesley  had,  or  thought  he  had,  Thomas  a  Kempis,  if 
not  always,  yet  often  in  his  pock  et. 

The  headmaster  of  the  school  was  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker.  An  old  gown-boy,  he  had  received  the 
appointment  in  1679.  It  was  a  good  appointment. 
The  best  Latin  scholar  of  the  day — Dr.  Davies, 
President  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge — was  a  pupil 


26  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


of  Walker's,  and  he  must  be  allowed  some  credit  in 
respect  of  a  pair  of  famous  essayists — Addison  and 
Steele.  The  usher,  another  old  gown-boy,  was  Dr. 
Andrew  Tooke,  Gresham  Professor  of  Geometry, 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  author  of  the 
Pantheon,  which,  with  its  cargo  of  heathen  gods, 
sailed  through  two-and-twenty  editions.  This  versatile 
man  succeeded  Dr.  Walker  in  the  headmastership, 
but  he  had  to  wait.  Addison's  schoolmaster  joined  to 
his  other  qualifications  that  of  firmness,  and  he  stuck 
to  his  post  till  he  was  eighty-two. 

Among  Samuel  Wesley's  varied  accomplishments 
was  the  useful  art  of  "  making  interest."  It  is  his 
own  phrase  for  a  practice  in  which  he  saw  no  sin  and 
much  sense.  He  "made  interest"  with  Queen  Mary,  and 
got  Epworth.  He  "  made  interest "  with  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  got  his  son  John  into  the  Charter- 
house. The  duke  and  duchess,  between  them,  had 
subscribed  £27,  17s.  6d.  to  repair  the  damage  of  the 
first  Epworth  fire — what  I  have  called  "  the  rehearsal." 
After  the  second  fire,  the  rector,  mindful  of  past  bene- 
fits, considered  it  proper  to  send  his  Grace  a  particular 
account  of  the  event.  It  was  particular,  among  other 
reasons,  inasmuch  as  it  told  all  about  poor  Jacky  and 
his  marvellous  escape  from  the  flames,  as  recorded,  in 
the  very  terms  of  the  epistle,  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
the  present  work.  The  adventure  was  no  doubt  well 
within  the  nobleman's  recollection,  when,  in  January 
1714,  he  availed  himself  of  his  prerogative  as  Governor 
of  the  Charterhouse  to  nominate  John  Wesley  as 
gown-boy. 

Probably  the  years  passed  at  school  were  the  only 
years  of  his  long  and  arduous  career  wherein  Wesley 


FIRST-FRUITS 


27 


might  have  claimed  genuine  popularity.  He  was  a 
thoroughly  healthy  boy,  and,  unlike  Shelley,  could 
submit  to  a  certain  amount  of  "  fagging  "  and  "  bully- 
ing" without  losing  any  of  his  spirit  or  morbidly 
fancying  that  the  world  was  in  arms  against  him. 
Wesley  had  not  yet  to  encounter  that  most  odious 
and  intractable  of  adverse  influences — Prejudice.  He 
might  have  to  accept,  now  and  then,  a  cuff  from  a 
bigger  boy;  and  the  bigger  boys  made  a  point  of 
helping  themselves  to  the  smaller  boys'  allowance  of 
meat.  But  these  attentions,  shared  by  all  in  turn, 
did  not  sting.  "  From  ten  to  thirteen  or  fourteen," 
he  says,  "  I  had  little  but  bread  to  eat,  and  not  plenty 
of  that.  I  believe  this  was  so  far  from  hurting  me 
that  it  laid  the  foundation  of  lasting  health."  His 
father  had  enjoined  on  him  to  run  three  times  round 
the  gx-een  every  morning.  This  injunction  he  obeyed, 
and  the  systematic  exercise,  it  is  natural  to  suppose, 
assisted  the  enforced  abstinence  in  building  up  an 
exceptionally  tough  constitution. 

When  Wesley  became  one  of  the  bigger  boys,  he 
did  not  bully — he  amused.  Once  Dr.  Tooke  had  lost 
his  flock,  and  could  not  tell  where  to  find  them.  They 
had  completely  vanished  from  the  fold,  or  playground. 
However,  they  were  not  doing  much  harm.  They 
were  in  the  schoolroom,  and  John  Wesley  was  telling 
them  stories.  Tooke  was  delighted,  and  encouraged 
the  narrator  to  tell  more  stories  to  more  audiences. 

Wesley's  enemies  twisted  this  straightforward  anec- 
dote into  a  dishonest  legend.  They  declared  that 
when  Tooke  asked  him  why  he  mixed  with  boys  so 
much  younger  than  himself,  he  made  answer,  "  Better 
to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven."    Let  us  dismiss 


28  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


this  reply  as  apocryphal,  as  a  libel.  Wesley  was 
never,  in  any  low  or  vulgar  sense,  ambitious.  Ambi- 
tion, however,  has  been  defined  as  "  the  last  infirmity 
of  noble  minds,"  and  somehow  this  episode  of  school- 
life,  with  its  suggestion  of  personal  authority,  irre- 
sistibly impresses  you  as  a  foretokening  of  the  Holy 
Club,  of  the  Yearly  Conference,  and  of  Wesley's  life- 
long papacy  among  the  people  called  Methodists. 

The  Charterhouse,  in  its  rough  way,  had  been  kind 
to  Wesley,  and  Wesley  was  devoted  to  the  Charter- 
house. In  1727  he  was  one  of  the  stewards  at  the 
annual  dinner  of  Old  Carthusians.  Later  develop- 
ments may  have  weakened  the  bond  between  school 
and  scholar,  but  at  heart  Wesley  was  firm  in  his 
allegiance.  In  May  1764  he  breakfasted  with  a  Mr. 
Fielding,  near  Barnard  Castle.  "  I  found,"  he  says, 
"  we  had  been  schoolfellows  at  the  Charterhouse,  and 
he  remembered  me,  though  I  had  forgot  him."  In 
1768  there  was  another  meeting.  "  I  was  well  pleased 
to  lodge  at  a  gentleman's,  an  old  schoolfellow,  half  a 
mile  from  the  town.  What  a  dream  are  the  fifty  or 
sixty  years  that  have  slipped  away  since  we  were  at 
the  Charterhouse  ! "  Twenty  years  more,  and  the  old 
schoolfellow  and  his  wife  had  been  laid  to  rest. 

After  Wesley  had  turned  fifty,  it  was  his  custom  to 
stroll  through  the  Charterhouse  once  a  year,  com- 
paring things  present  with  things  past.  To  many  the 
comparison  would  have  been  sad,  but  it  was  not  sad 
to  Wesley,  a  gourmand  for  retrospect.  Hence  it  was 
not,  as  Southey  opines,  a  question  of  pressing  on  to  the 
goal.  It  was  a  question  of  habitual  serenity,  enabling 
him  to  indulge  in  cheerful  reflections. 

In  August  1757  he  took  a  walk  in  the  Charter- 


FIRST-FRUITS 


29 


house,  and  wondered  that  all  the  quadrangles  and 
buildings,  and  especially  the  schoolboys,  looked  so 
small.  "  But  this,"  he  says,  "  is  easily  accounted  for. 
1  was  little  myself  when  I  was  at  school,  and  measured 
all  about  me  by  myself."  He  goes  on  to  suggest  that 
this  may  be  the  reason  why  Homer,  and  Virgil,  and 
many  other  persons  of  less  note,  have  imagined  that 
men  in  former  ages  were  larger  and  stronger  than 
those  of  the  present  generation.  Yes,  or  there  may 
have  been  a  notion  that  very  tall  men  represent  the 
normal  growth,  just  as  centenarians  have  been  said 
to  represent  the  normal  span  of  life.  Anyhow, 
Wesley's  desultory  reflections  are  very  happy — much 
better  than  melancholy  discourse  about  hopes,  and 
illusions,  and  ambitions,  which,  as  a  boy,  he  had  prob- 
ably been  too  sensible  to  entertain.  That  was  the  worst 
of  Wesley — he  was  always  so  sensible.  Now  people  in 
general  are  not  sensible,  and  revel  in  inconsistencies. 

From  the  Charterhouse  Wesley  proceeded  to  Christ 
Church,  Oxford.  This  was  in  1720,  so  that  he  was 
still  a  mere  boy — in  fact,  seventeen.  With  reference 
to  his  youth,  Alexander  Knox,  an  Irish  friend  of  later 
days,  tells  an  amusing  story  of  Samuel  Wesley's  fruit- 
less attempt  to  initiate  his  son  into  the  prudent 
parental  art  of  "making  interest." 

"  I  remember  Mr.  Wesley  told  us  that  his  father  was 
the  person  who  composed  the  well-known  speech  de- 
livered by  Dr.  Sacheverell  at  the  close  of  his  trial ; 1 
and  that  on  this  ground  when  he,  Mr.  John  Wesley, 
was  about  to  be  entered  at  Oxford,  his  father,  knowing 
that  the  doctor  had  a  strong  interest  in  the  college  for 
which  his  son  was  devoted,  desired  him  to  call  on  the 
1  Atterbury  has  usually  the  credit  of  this  achievement. 


30  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


doctor  on  his  way  to  get  letters  of  recommendation. 
'  When  I  was  introduced,'  said  Mr.  John  Wesley,  '  I 
found  him  alone,  as  tall  as  a  maypole,  and  as  fine  as 
an  archbishop.  I  was  a  very  little  fellow,  not  taller 
(pointing  to  a  very  gentlemanlike  but  very  dwarfish 
clergyman  who  was  in  the  company)  than  Mr.  Kennedy 
there.  He  said :  "  You  are  too  young  to  go  to  the 
university;  you  cannot  know  Latin  and  Greek  yet. 
Go  back  to  school."  I  looked  at  him  as  David  looked 
at  Goliath,  and  despised  him  in  my  heart.  I  thought, 
"  If  I  do  not  know  Greek  and  Latin  better  than  you, 
1  ought  to  go  back  to  school  indeed." 1  I  left  him,  and 
neither  entreaties  nor  commands  could  have  again 
brought  me  back  to  him.' " 

Brave  words !  But  one  wonders  what  his  wise 
father  thought  of  the  woeful  waste  of  opportunity. 
Your  great  men,  your  Sacheverells  must  have  their 
say,  but  their  say  is  often  only  the  preface  to  deeds  of 
genuine  kindness.  However,  the  sequel  proved  that 
Sacheverell  was  wrong — hopelessly  and  entirely  wrong. 
Wesley  succeeded  brilliantly,  and,  with  the  help  of  Dr. 
Wigan,  made  such  good  progress  that,  at  twenty-one, 
an  observer  could  say  of  him  :  "  He  appeared  the  very 
sensible  and  acute  logician;  a  young  fellow  of  the 
finest  classical  taste,  of  the  most  liberal  and  manly 
sentiments." 

And  the  University  appreciated  his  talents.  In 
March  1726  he  gained  a  fellowship  at  Lincoln  ;  and  in 
the  following  November  he  was  appointed  lecturer  in 
Greek  and  moderator  of  the  classes.  He  was  even  now 
only  twenty-three,  and  had  not  yet  taken  his  Master's 

1  The  Wesle3-s  were  a  scholarship-winning  family,  and  Christ  Church 
was  a  kind  of  freehold  for  them. 


FIRST-FRUITS 


3* 


degree.  Dr.  Sacheverell  must  have  been  scandalised, 
but  Wesley's  old  father  was  overjoyed.  "  What  will 
be  my  own  fate  before  the  summer  be  over,  God 
knows  ;  sed  passi  graviora.  Wherever  I  am,  my  Jack 
is  Fellow  of  Lincoln." 

Readers  of  Gibbon's  Autobiography  will  be  pre- 
pared for  a  not  too  favourable  estimate  of  the  Oxford 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  Magdalen  drones, 
however,  were  perhaps  not  the  worst  enemies  of 
studious  youth.  Men  like  Tom  Warton,  who  was  at 
once  poet-laureate,  professor  of  history,  and  bon 
vivant,  lured  many  an  undergraduate  from  the  thorny 
path  of  application  by  the  temptations  of  good  dinners, 
anniversaries,  music  meetings,  and  expeditions  to 
Wallingford,  Woodstock,  and  London.  Instead  of 
fixing  their  minds  on  law,  plrrsick,  or  divinity,  the 
tyros  wasted  their  energy  in  the  purest  dissipations. 
If  any  of  their  number  had  succeeded  in  interpreting 
a  black-letter  inscription,  it  was  a  subject  for  sincere 
felicitation,  and  justified  a  week's  dispensation  from 
mental  toil.  In  Tom  Warton's  rooms  they  discussed, 
with  Tom  as  umpire,  which  college  excelled  in  long 
corks,  or  had  a  cook  best  qualified  for  serving  up 
harrico  of  mutton  or  hashed  calf's  head.  When 
the  nectar  had  been  exchanged  for  gall,  and  the  rosy 
visions  had  been  replaced  by  the  cold  world,  plenty 
of  John  Hollands  might  have  been  found  lamenting 
the  brief  spell  of  Elysium. 

According  to  Wesley's  account  of  Lincoln,  the 
Fellows  were  at  least  gentlemen.  They  were  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  one  another.  They  were  good- 
natured,  well-bred,  and  "  admirably  disposed  to  preserve 
peace  and  good  neighbourhood  among  themselves,"  and 


32  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


"  to  promote  it  wherever  else  they  had  acquaintance." 
That  being  the  case,  they  were  easily  led  to  discoun- 
tenance those  who  by  their  conduct  tacitly  censured 
their  neighbours.  Mr.  Smith  did  this.  He  husbanded 
time,  retrenched  unnecessary  expenses,  and  shunned 
irreligious  acquaintance.  And  he  was  treated  as  a 
Guy  Fawkes.  "  The  thing  that  gives  offence  here  is 
the  being  singular  with  regard  to  time,  expense,  and 
company."  Precisely ;  you  will  never  get  on  in  society 
if  you  make  your  behaviour  a  reproach  to  those 
amongst  whom  you  move. 

Wesley,  like  Esaias,  was  very  bold.  The  Fellows 
had  elected  him  one  of  themselves  in  the  teeth  of 
sundry  hints  that  he  was  unsuitable ;  and  some  years 
before  poor  Mr.  Smith  developed  those  unwelcome 
traits,  they  must  have  been  convinced  of  their  mistake. 
Not  only  was  Wesley  a  perfect  Spartan  in  discipline, 
requiring  his  pupils  to  rise  betimes  and  adapt  them- 
selves to  a  rigid  code  of  rules,  but  he  had  imbibed 
notions  that  threatened  the  very  foundations  of  social 
life.  If  the  Fellows  did  not  serve  Wesley  as  they 
served  Smith,  it  was  because  they  knew  that  they 
might  as  well  dash  themselves  against  adamant. 
When  once  his  mind  was  made  up,  not  all  the  bishops 
in  England  could  move  him.  Ostracism,  the  certain 
punishment  of  stubborn  eccentricity,  had  no  terrors 
for  a  man  who  confessed  that,  unless  people  wei*e  of  a 
religious  turn  of  mind,  he  was  much  better  pleased 
without  them. 

Charles  Wesley,  younger  than  John  by  five  years, 
had  been  educated  at  Westminster  under  his  brother 
Samuel.  He,  too,  found  his  way  to  Christ  Church. 
Here,  for  the  first  two  or  three  terms,  he  closed  his 


FIRST-FRUITS 


33 


ears  to  fraternal  remonstrance  and  gave  himself  up 
to  frivolity.  In  1727  John,  who  had  taken  deacon's 
orders,  temporarily  withdrew  from  Oxford  and  resided, 
as  his  father's  curate,  at  Wroote.  Dr.  Morley,  however, 
the  head  of  his  college,  could  not  dispense  with  his 
services,  and  in  November  1729  he  was  again  at 
Lincoln. 

By  this  time  Charles  had  undergone  a  succession 
of  changes.  From  frivolity  he  had  passed  to  study, 
from  study  to  reflection,  and  from  reflection  to  weekly 
participation  of  the  sacrament.  In  this  exemplary 
practice  he  had  induced  two  or  three  other  students  to 
join  him,  and  from  the  strict  observance  of  religious 
duties  combined  with  a  scrupulous  regard  for  the 
statutes  of  the  university,  had  gained,  as  he  says,  "  the 
harmless  name  of  Methodist." 

If  Charles  Wesley  intended  by  this  statement  that 
the  nickname  was  new  and  good-natured,  he  was 
under  a  sad  delusion.  His  brother,  in  his  account 
of  the  word,  traces  it  to  an  ancient  school  of  physicians, 
of  whom  few,  very  few,  have  heard.  It  might  be 
unfair  to  condemn  this  pedigree  as  historical  affectation, 
but  it  is  certain  that  the  Wesleys  never  liked  the 
name,  and  accepted  it  for  convenience. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  "  Methodist "  was  then, 
as  now,  a  term  of  reproach  among  persons  of  contrary 
or  no  religious  principle,  and  both  trend  and  ancestry 
are  sufficiently  indicated  in  a  Lambeth  sermon  of  1G39. 
In  this  discourse  the  question  is  propounded  :  "  Where 
are  now  our  Anabaptists,  and  plain,  pack-staff 
Methodists,  who  esteem  all  flowers  of  rhetoric  no 
better  than  stinking  weeds,  and  all  elegancies  of 
speech  no  better  than  profane  spells  ? "  At  the  close 
3 


34  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


of  the  same  century,  a  section  of  Nonconformists, 
holding  similar  views  of  justification  to  those  after- 
wards embraced  by  Wesley,  were  styled  by  their 
co-religionists  "  New  Methodists." 

Now  it  is  very  strange  if  the  Wesleys,  with  their 
Nonconformist  connections,  possessed  no  acquaintance 
with  these  facts.  They  need  not  have  known  the 
Lambeth  sermon,  but  they  might  have  been  expected 
to  know  the  associations  of  their  own  sobriquet.  But, 
if  they  did,  why  that  uncandid  reference  to  the  ancient 
physicians  ?  After  all,  it  may  be  that  the  information, 
obvious  as  it  may  now  seem,  had  somehow  eluded 
them.  John  Wesley,  in  his  Short  History  of 
Methodism,  certainly  describes  the  term  as  new  and 
quaint,  and  attributes  to  a  Christ  Church  man  its 
application  to  the  Oxford  coterie. 

Popular  ignorance  played  all  kinds  of  pranks  with 
the  name.  The  usual  abbreviation  was  "  Methody," 
but  it  was  sometimes  confounded  with  "Maccabee." 
Its  meaning  also  was  obscure.  In  Ireland  a  gentle- 
man defined  Methodists  as  "  people  who  placed  all 
religion  in  wearing  long  beards." 

Although  Charles  Wesley  may  be  considered  the 
first  Methodist  in  point  of  time,  he  was  not,  or  not  for 
long,  the  first  Methodist  in  point  of  importance.  John 
Wesley  possessed  in  a  marked  degree  what  Charles 
Wesley  possessed  only  in  a  moderate  degree — isrill ; 
and,  as  the  necessary  result,  he  took  the  control  of  the 
society  which  Charles  had  instituted.  There  were  at 
first  only  four  of  them — the  two  Wesleys,  Morgan  of 
Christ  Church,  and  Kirkman  of  Merton.  After  a 
year,  they  were  reinforced  by  others,  among  whom 
were   James   Hervey,   not  yet   author  of  Medita- 


FIRST-FRUITS 


35 


Hons  among  the  Tombs,  George  Whitefield,  and  John 
Gambold. 

The  original  design  was  to  read  over  the  classics  on 
three  or  four  evenings  of  the  week,  and  on  Sunday 
some  work  on  divinity  ;  but  John  Wesley  was  already 
in  process  of  becoming,  as  he  afterwards  boasted  he 
had  become,  a  man  of  one  book.  It  seems  that 
Morgan  commenced  the  religious  practices  that 
occasioned  so  much  talk,  but  the  predominance  of 
the  Wesleys,  and  especially  of  John  Wesley,  was 
unquestioned.  According  to  Gambold,  Charles  had  a 
real  deference  for  his  brother,  and  submitted  to  him  in 
a  way  that  seemed  hardly  credible  in  such  near  rela- 
tions. "  Could  I  describe  one  of  them,"  he  says,  "  I 
should  describe  both."  Though  John  Wesley  was  of 
unassuming  demeanour,  Gambold  thought  he  had 
something  of  authority  in  his  countenance.  Charles, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  affable  and  amiable.  He  was 
"  a  man  formed  for  friendship." 

Whatever  credit  may  be  due  to  Charles  Wesley  and 
to  Morgan  as  pioneers — Morgan,  alas!  was  to  die 
young — John  Wesley  alone  could  have  been  chief. 
Xot  only  had  he  the  advantage  in  age,  in  academic 
studies,  and  in  general  knowledge,  but  for  some  years 
he  had  been  unconsciously  ripening  for  the  part.  On 
quitting  Christ  Church  for  Lincoln  he  had  "  shaken  oft* 
all  his  trifling  acquaintance  " — without,  of  course,  con- 
sulting the  pacific  and  sociable  Fellows — and  had  taken 
to  reading  the  Imitation  of  Christ,  ascribed  to  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  Jeremy  Taylor's  Rules  of  Holy  Living  and 
Dying,  and  William  Law's  Christian  Perfection  and 
Serious  Call. 

At  a  later  period  he  saw  much  to  criticise  in  one 


36  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


and  all  of  these  works.  Even  then  he  was  not  quite 
satisfied  with  his  oracles.  One  rule — "  We  must  be 
sure,  in  some  sense  or  other,  to  think  ourselves  the 
worst  in  every  company  where  we  come  " — seemed  to 
him  impracticable.  Another  rule — "  Whether  God -has 
forgiven  us  or  no,  we  know  not ;  therefore  be  sorrowful 
for  ever  having  sinned" — not  merely  contradicted 
other  portions  of  the  treatise,  but  contained  highly 
disputable  doctrine.  John  Wesley  was  striving  to 
keep  the  whole  law  of  God,  both  inwardly  and  out- 
wardly, and  whilst  he  did  that,  he  deemed  himself  in 
a  state  of  salvation.  But  for  Jeremy  Taylor,  it  is 
conceivable  that  Wesley  would  never  have  doubted 
that  he  was  in  a  state  of  salvation,  and  that  the 
doctrine  of  assurance,  in  the  extremely  narrow  and 
highly  technical  sense  that  Wesley  imparted  to  it, 
would  never  have  perplexed  English  minds  philo- 
sophical or  lay. 

A  lesson  that  Wesley  learnt  from  Taylor  was  the 
"  wisdom  of  flight."  The  mastership  of  a  school  in 
Yorkshire  chanced  to  be  vacant,  and  Wesley  thought 
of  applying  for  it.  The  school  was  charmingly  situated 
in  a  secluded  vale,  where  Nature  and  Nature's  God 
might  have  been  enjoyed  without  expense.  Had  this 
nebulous  idea  taken  definite  shape,  the  secluded  vale 
would  have  been  to  Wesley  what  the  wilderness  was 
to  his  prototype — a  place  of  preparation.  For  Baptists 
and  Methodists — men  of  intense  activity — there  is  one, 
and  only  one,  possible  sphere — the  world.  For  Wesley 
the  world  continued  to  be  Oxford. 

Defective  as  his  manuals  of  devotion  might  have 
been,  they  had  revealed  to  Wesley  the  "  exceeding 
height,  and  breadth,  and  depth "  of  the  law  of  God. 


FIRST-FRUITS 


3  7 


That  majestic  law  he  and  his  companions  tried  hard 
to  obey.  They  not  only  prayed,  but  fasted,  and  as 
they  regularly  attended  Holy  Communion,  they  were 
styled  by  mirthful  critics  "  Sacramentarians."  This 
name  was  afterwards  altered  to  "  The  Holy  Club," 
probably  to  suit  the  widening  circle  of  duty  to  which 
the  members  of  the  society  felt  themselves  drawn. 
When  the  circle  had  extended  to  the  utmost  limit  of 
which  Merton  and  Christ  Church  could  conceive,  "  The 
Holy  Club"  became  "The  Reforming  Club;  or,  The 
Enthusiasts."  In  the  eighteenth  century — that  age  of 
reason — when  a  man  had  been  called  an  "  enthusiast," 
he  could  be  called  nothing  worse.  He  had  sounded 
the  lowest  depth  of  obloquy. 

But  the  ugly  epithet  was  unmerited.  The  Bible- 
moths  no  doubt  took  a  strict,  and  even  appalling,  view 
of  their  religious  obligations.  The  state  of  being 
always  "recollected"  is  the  very  crown  and  pinnacle 
of  asceticism  ;  but,  if  practicable  at  all,  can  be  attained, 
and  perhaps  better,  without  enthusiasm.  Nor  in  his 
external  actions  did  Wesley  and  his  associates  trans- 
gress the  bounds  of  strict  churchmanship.  If,  inspired 
by  Mr.  Morgan's  example,  they  visited  the  felons  at 
the  Castle,  they  first  consulted  the  chaplain.  If  they 
preached  to  them  once  a  month,  they  first  got  leave  of 
the  bishop.  Poor  families,  incarcerated  debtors,  and 
"  beardless  freshmen  "  were  the  care  of  the  Holy  Club, 
which  freely  disbursed  both  money  and  advice.  The 
members  supported  also  a  school  for  neglected  children, 
whom  they  helped  to  clothe. 

Their  abundant  labours  were  rewarded  with  scant 
esteem,  and  at  Merton  the  Bible-moths  were  ridiculed 
for  customs  not  their  own.  Wesley  took  this  pleasantry 


38  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


to  heart ;  and,  being  unable  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory- 
conclusion,  wrote  to  his  father  and  eldest  brother  for 
counsel.  The  septuagenarian,  who,  whilst  in  residence 
at  Oxford,  had  himself  visited  the  prisoners,  bade  him 
not  be  discouraged.  "  I  hear  my  son  John  has  the 
honour  of  being  styled  the  '  Father  of  the  Holy  Club.' 
If  it  be  so,  I  am  sure  I  must  be  the  grandfather  of  it, 
and  I  need  not  say  that  I  had  rather  any  of  my  sons 
should  be  so  dignified  and  distinguished  than  to  have 
the  title  of  '  his  Holiness.' "  The  younger  Samuel  was 
equally  emphatic. 

However,  the  proceedings  of  the  Holy  Club  occa- 
sioned increasing  scandal.  Morgan  had,  it  was  alleged, 
died  from  excessive  fasting,  and  for  a  time  his  rela- 
tions were  disposed  to  charge  their  bereavement  on 
Wesley.  Private  persons  employed  both  violence  and 
persuasion  to  arrest  the  mania  for  Communion.  The 
authorities  at  Merton  held  a  private  conclave  to 
stem  the  tide  of  enthusiasm,  and  there  was  ominous 
talk  of  the  censors  "blowing  up"  the  Godly  Club. 
These  measures  were  not  without  effect.  During 
Wesley's  absence  in  the  north  the  communicants  at 
St.  Mary's  dwindled  from  seven-and-twenty  to  five. 

Some  echo  of  the  scandal  seems  to  have  reached 
Epworth;  and,  in  1731,  Wesley's  old  father,  having 
journeyed  to  London,  deemed  it  well  to  extend  his 
travels  to  Oxford,  in  order  that  he  might  investigate 
matters  on  the  spot.  He  appears  to  have  satisfied  him- 
self that  there  was  no  justification  for  the  outcry,  and, 
on  returning  to  London,  wrote  to  Mrs.  Wesley  that  he 
had  been  well  repaid  for  his  trouble  "  by  the  shining 
piety  of  our  sons." 

He  was  not,  however,  so  impressed  with  the  import- 


FIRST-FRUITS 


39 


ance  of  their  labours  as  to  consider  that  they  ought  to 
entail  any  considerable  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  his 
family  and  himself.  He  was  past  the  allotted  span  of 
life,  and  had  made  no  provision  for  his  wife  and  un- 
married daughters.  He  therefore  requested  John  to 
terminate  his  Oxford  career,  and  "  make  interest "  that 
he  might  succeed  to  the  living  of  Epworth.  Other 
relations  urged  the  same  course,  and  his  brother  Samuel 
attempted  to  work  on  his  sense  of  duty  by  pointing 
out  that  he  was  bound  by  his  ordination  vows  to  seek 
the  cure  of  souls.  John  was  deaf  to  all  appeals.  He 
thought  that,  if  he  left  Oxford,  it  would  be  at  the  peril 
of  his  soul.  There  he  could  train  future  clergymen, 
and  that,  it  seemed  to  him,  was  his  mission. 

Southey  says  of  John  Wesley's  part  in  the  corre- 
spondence that  it  was  not  "  creditable  to  his  judgment," 
but  there  was  no  supreme  reason  why  he  should  go  to 
Epworth,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  his  sister's  husband, 
John  Whitelamb,  obtained  the  preferment.  This  is 
really  one  of  those  cases  that  test  the  judgment  of 
the  biographer.  If  Wesley  had  been  of  less  import- 
ance to  the  world,  it  might  have  been  objected  that 
he  had  no  right  to  disregard  the  commands  of  his 
venerable  father.  But  the  man  who  is  to  achieve 
great  things  for  humanity  will  at  times  find  himself 
face  to  face  with  contingencies,  in  which  he  will  have 
to  risk  the  appearance  of  ungraciousness,  and  even 
worse,  or  allow  his  whole  course  to  be  wrecked.  John 
Wesley's  main  characteristic  was  moral  courage.  He 
had  a  stupendous  task,  and  his  Taskmaster  no  doubt 
absolved  him  for  declining  the  unreasonable  demand 
of  his  friends.  Some  soreness  there  may — indeed,  must 
— have  been,  but  the  refusal  caused  no  breach  in  the 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


almost  unearthly  rectitude  of  the  family  relations. 
In  April  1735  the  old  rector  died.  His  sons,  John  and 
Charles,  were  with  him  at  the  close,  and,  just  before 
his  departure,  John  pronounced  the  commendatory 
prayer.  His  father  replied,  "  Now  you  have  done  all," 
and  imperceptibly  his  soul  glided  out  into  the  ocean  of 
eternity. 

The  year  1732  was  marked  by  a  new  settlement  in 
America.  Primarily  this  was  the  work  of  James 
Oglethorpe,  a  member  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons,  whose  heart  had  been  moved  by  the  suffer- 
ings of  poor  debtors.  It  seemed  to  him  terrible  that 
men  of  character  should  drag  out  a  miserable  exist- 
ence in  filthy  jails,  to  which  they  had  been  committed 
as  the  penalty  of  youthful  imprudence  or  defective 
judgment;  and  he  set  himself  to  provide  for  derelict 
Britons  a  new  chance  in  the  New  World. 

But  there  were  others  who  claimed  Oglethorpe's 
sympathy  hardly  less  than  his  own  afflicted  country- 
men. These  were  the  persecuted  Protestants  of  mid- 
Europe.  Long  before  Luther  had  affixed  his  theses 
to  the  gates  of  the  castle-church  at  Wittenberg,  the 
compatriots  of  Hus  had  kept  alight  in  Moravia  and 
Bohemia  the  torch  of  evangelical  doctrine.  Since  the 
sixteenth  century,  however,  they  had  encountered 
many  difficulties.  Outwardly  they  had  been  com- 
pelled to  conform  to  the  dominant  religion.  They 
had  been  subjected  to  intermittent  persecution.  Many 
of  them  had  migrated  to  Saxony,  where,  however,  they 
enjoyed  no  sense  of  security.  Oglethorpe  saw  in  these 
simple-hearted  Germans  excellent  material  for  colonists, 
and  offered  them  home  and  freedom  beyond  the  sea. 

The  offer  had  been  eagerly  accepted.    The  evacua- 


FIRST-FRUITS 


4i 


tion  of  Salzburg,  whence  some  of  them  had  come, 
had  been  signalised  by  incidents  savouring  rather  of 
romance  than  of  sober  history.  At  least  they  appear 
to  have  little  in  common  with  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  extended  line  of  pilgrims,  afoot,  and  chanting 
hymns  along  the  way,  full  of  faith  and  enthusiasm — 
the  welcoming  by  the  clergy  at  Leipsic,  and  by  the 
university  at  Wittenberg — and  the  burst  of  gratitude 
when  the  exiles  found  themselves  on  the  broad  bosom 
of  the  Atlantic,  their  faces  tinged  by  the  rays  of  the 
setting  sun — there  is  something  in  these  episodes  that 
recalls  mediaeval  customs,  if  indeed  we  do  not  prefer 
the  analogy  of  the  previous  century,  when  the  embers 
of  the  Great  Reformation  still  glowed  in  the  breasts  of 
the  Puritans,  and  on  the  deck  of  the  Mayflower. 

In  1734  Oglethorpe  visited  England  in  order  to 
enlist  further  sympathy  for  his  enterprise.  On  his 
return  he  carried  with  him  John  and  Charles  Wesley. 
Do  not  suppose  that  John  Wesley,  who  dared  not  quit 
Oxford  for  Epworth,  sailed  without  scruple  to  the 
virgin  colony  in  the  West.  At  first  he  flatly  declined, 
but,  on  the  advice  of  John  Byrom  and  William  Law,  > 
both  personal  acquaintances,  he  resigned  himself  to  the 
task  of  converting  the  heathen.  The  project  excited 
much  ridicule,  and  was  regarded  as  an  additional  proof 
of  mental  instability.  "  What  is  this,  sir  ? "  cried  a 
wise  man.  "Are  you  turned  Quixote,  too?  Will 
nothing  serve  you  but  to  encounter  windmills  ? " 
Such  was  the  view  taken  of  Christian  missions  in  the 
year  of  grace  1736.1 

Wesley's  sojourn  in  America  cannot  be  accounted, 

1  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  the  Wesleys  went  out  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 


42  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


even  by  his  most  fervid  admirers,  a  satisfactory  chapter 
of  his  career.  He  set  out  with  high  hopes,  and  in  less 
than  two  years  he  came  back,  baffled  and,  to  some 
extent,  in  disgrace.  Still  those  two  years  were  not 
unimportant.  They  brought  him  in  contact  with  the 
Moravians,  and  the  Moravians,  as  Wesley  was  led  to 
believe,  possessed  the  true  key  of  Christianity.  He 
was  first  struck  with  the  difference  between  their 
religion  and  his  own  on  the  outward  voyage,  when 
there  arose  a  succession  of  storms.  The  third — what 
the  Greeks  might  have  called  an  enlarged  rpr/.v/j,:a — was 
the  worst.  The  ship  rocked  to  and  fro,  and  every  ten 
minutes  the  stern  or  side  of  the  vessel  received  such  a 
shock  that  it  seemed  a  miracle  the  planks  still  held 
together.  The  storm  began  at  noon,  and  at  seven  was 
still  raging.  Wesley  now  paid  a  visit  to  his  friends, 
the  Germans.  They  had  given  the  last  proofs  of  their 
Christian  humility.  An  opportunity  had  now  arrived 
for  testing  their  Christian  fortitude.  They  well  sus- 
tained the  ordeal.  The  sea  broke  over  the  ship,  split 
the  mainsail,  and  poured  in  between  the  decks.  The 
English  began  to  scream  ;  the  Germans,  who  had  just 
entered  on  their  vespers,  continued  singing.  Wesley 
could  not  but  contrast  the  firmness  of  the  Moravians 
with  the  agitation  of  his  own  countrymen.  Personally, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  afraid,  but  he 
owns  to  a  certain  "unwillingness  to  die,"  which  he 
thought  was  indicative  of  want  of  faith. 

The  emigrants  landed  at  a  desert  island  opposite 
that  of  Tybee,  and,  led  by  Oglethorpe,  ascended  some 
rising  ground,  where  they  knelt  down  and  gave  thanks 
for  their  safe  voyage.  Oglethorpe  then  proceeded  by 
boat  to  Savannah,  the  wooden  capital  of  Georgia.  On 


FIRST-FRUITS 


45 


his  return  he  was  accompanied  by  a  Mr.  Spangenberg, 
a  Moravian  pastor,  and  to  this  Protestant  confessor 
Wesley — always  insatiable  of  advice,  which,  however, 
he  did  not  always  follow — confided  his  perplexi- 
ties. The  incident  was  dramatic,  but  apparently 
barren. 

"  He  said,  '  My  brother,  I  must  first  ask  you  one  or 
two  questions.  Have  you  the  witness  within  your- 
self ?  Does  the  Spirit  of  God  bear  witness  with  your 
spirit  that  you  are  a  child  of  God  ? '  I  was  surprised, 
and  knew  not  what  to  answer.  He  observed  it,  and 
asked,  '  Do  you  know  Jesus  Christ  ? '  I  paused,  and 
said, '  I  know  He  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world.'  '  True,' 
replied  he,  '  but  do  you  know  He  has  saved  you  ? ' 
I  answered,  '  I  hope  He  has  died  to  save  me.'  He  only 
added, '  Do  you  know  yourself  ? '  I  said, '  I  do.'  But 
I  fear  they  were  vain  words." 

The  note  of  hesitancy  discernible  in  these  words  may 
be  explained  by  the  novelty  of  the  catechism.  Wesley 
had  never  before  been  subjected  to  so  pointed  an 
examination,  and  recoiled  before  an  inquisitor  to  whom 
such  questions  and  answers  were  the  veriest  common- 
place. For  the  present  his  assumption  that  he  was  a 
true  Christian  remained  intact,  as  was  proved  by  an 
energy  of  ministerial  labour  unsurpassed  even  by  the 
unflagging  exertions  of  his  later  life.  The  belief  that 
he  was  not  only  a  true  Christian,  but  a  true  Christian 
priest,  caused  him  to  act  magisterially  towards  those 
very  Moravians  whose  practical  superiority  he  had 
recognised  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Afterwards  he  deemed 
this  conduct  strange  and  censurable.  "  What  a  truly 
Christian  piety  and  simplicity  breathe  in  these  lines ! 
And  yet  this  very  man,  when  I  was  at  Savannah,  did 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


I  refuse  to  admit  to  the  Lord's  Table,  because  he  was 
not  baptized." 

The  Wesleys  had  gone  to  America  for  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen,  but  the  Creeks,  the  Choetaws,  the 
Cherokees.  and  others  representing  that  vast  and 
benighted  portion  of  humanity,  saw  extremely  little 
of  the  brothers.  Soon  after  their  arrival  they  found 
their  services  in  demand  for  the  assemblage  of  cosmo- 
politan whites.  John  remained  at  Savannah,  whilst 
Charles,  who  had  likewise  taken  orders,  went  on  to 
Frederica. 

The  charter  of  the  new  colony  expressly  forbade 
the  importation  of  ardent  spirits,  and  the  aim  of  the 
trustees,  and  especially  of  the  governor,  was  to  render 
Georgia  a  model  province.  But,  in  spite  of  the  pro- 
hibition of  gin  and  papists,  and  the  presence  of  a 
goodly  leaven  of  Moravians,  profligate  men  invaded 
the  transatlantic  Eden,  where  they  engaged  in  smug- 
gling and  other  vicious  practices.  All  this  they  com- 
passed to  the  horror  of  the  virtuous  and  sensitive 
Charles  Wesley,  who  appears  to  have  had  more  than 
his  fair  share  of  adventurers.  Perhaps  they  did  not 
really  pretend  or  attempt  to  shoot  him  in  the  myrtle 
grove,  but  it  is  evident  that  they  worked  on  his  fears, 
and  at  length  his  brother,  who  was  made  of  sterner 
stuff,  undertook  to  relieve  him. 

John  Wesley  was  capable  of  anything.  He  preached 
in  English  to  the  English,  in  French  to  the  French, 
in  Italian  to  the  Italians,  in  German  to  the  Germans. 
He  learnt  Spanish  that  he  might  preach  in  that 
language  to  peninsular  Jews.  He  could,  and  did, 
converse  with  learned  Moravians  in  Latin.  That  he 
might  not  encroach  on  the  working-day,  he  conducted 


FIRST-FRUITS 


4i 


services  before  and  after  the  hours  of  labour.  He 
visited  the  sick.  He  catechised  children.  He  rebuked 
profane  swearing  in  His  Majesty's  officers. 

He  thus  devoted  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  sacred 
office,  and  left  colonial  politics  to  General  Oglethorpe 
and  the  other  patrons,  who,  in  accordance  with  their 
motto,  non  sibi,  sed  aliis,  decided  what  was  for  the 
good  of  the  settlers.  Bancroft,  the  historian  of  the 
United  States,  has  remarked  that  Wesley  desired  and 
exerted  no  influence  in  moulding  the  institutions  of 
Georgia.  "  As  he  strolled  through  natural  avenues  of 
palmettoes  and  evergreen  hollies,  and  woods  sombre 
with  hanging  moss,  his  heart  gushed  forth  in  addresses 
to  God— 

'Is  there  a  thing  beneath  the  sun, 

That  strives  with  Thee  my  heart  to  share? 
Ah,  tear  it  thence,  and  reign  alone — 
The  Lord  of  every  motion  there.'" 

Wesley's  residence  in  America  was  terminated  by  a 
painful — not  to  say,  discreditable — incident.  He  was 
drawn  into  a  queer  sort  of  love  affair  with  a  fine  girl, 
who,  according  to  some  versions,  played  the  part  of 
temptress  to  Wesley's  St.  Anthony.  The  lady  was  a 
Miss  Hopkey,  niece  of  a  leading  storekeeper  and 
justice  of  the  peace,  called  Causton ;  and  she  mani- 
fested a  desire  to  amend  her  life  under  Wesley's  tuition. 
Wesley  asked  nothing  better.  He  interested  himself, 
not  only  in  Miss  Sophy's  spiritual  health,  but,  antici- 
pating his  latter  craze  for  physicking,  in  her  bodily 
health  as  well.  "  In  the  beginning  of  December,"  he 
writes,  "  I  advised  Miss  Sophy  to  sup  earlier,  and  not 
immediately  before  she  went  to  bed.  She  did  so,  and 
on  this  little  circumstance,  what  an  inconceivable  train 


46  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


of  consequences  depend  !  Not  only  all  the  colour  of 
remaining  life  for  her,  but  perhaps  my  happiness  too." 

Notwithstanding  so  much  solicitude,  the  parties  never 
became  betrothed,  but  there  was  an  understanding — 
not  perhaps  formally  expressed,  but  still  sufficiently 
binding — that,  in  due  course,  Miss  Hopkey  would  be 
transformed  into  Mrs.  Wesley.  It  is  probable  that  the 
union  would  have  taken  place — Mr.  Causton,  at  all 
events,  would  have  raised  no  objection — but  for  Mr. 
Delamotte.  This  gentleman,  one  of  Wesley's  friends 
who  had  shared  the  voyage  from  England,  either  turned 
amiable  Paul  Pry  or  acquired,  without  having  sought 
it,  information  that  caused  him  to  suspect  the  purity 
of  Miss  Sophy's  motives.  He  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  her  professions  were  hollow,  that  she  was  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  designing  woman,  whose  society 
would  have  the  worst  results  on  Wesley's  interests 
both  here  and  hereafter.  He  communicated  his  fears 
to  the  artless  lover,  and  inquired  whether  it  was  his 
intention  to  marry  her. 

Wesley  was  inexpressibly  shocked,  and  repaired  to 
the  Moravian  bishop  for  advice.  The  dignitary  replied 
that,  in  the  abstract,  marriage  was  not  unlawful,  but 
it  was  a  question  whether  such  a  marriage  as  Wesley 
had  contemplated  was  quite  expedient.  He  promised 
to  lay  the  case  before  the  elders.  Now  the  Moravians 
were  a  plain,  primitive  people,  not  distinguished  for 
delicacy  of  feeling,  and  they  were  the  last  body  in  the 
world  to  sympathise  with  Miss  Sophy's  little  coquetries. 
Their  verdict  was  unfriendly.  Upon  this  Wesley 
tacitly  forsook  his  lady-love.  He  did  not  acquaint 
her  with  the  decision  which  had  been,  as  it  were,  forced 
upon  him — "his  wound  was  great  because  it  was  so 


FIRST-FRUITS 


47 


small" — but  his  ardour  was  not  what  it  had  been. 
He  was  guilty  of  a  coolness  which  the  lady  could  not 
but  remark,  and  she  showed  her  sense  of  his  conduct  by 
marrying,  not  many  months  after,  a  Mr.  Williamson. 

One's  sympathies  go  out  to  Miss  Sophy.  She  had 
sought  to  adapt  herself,  as  far  as  any  woman  ever 
could,  to  the  whims  of  a  spiritual  Quixote,  and  all  that 
she  had  gained  by  conscientious  self-denial  was  to  find 
herself  the  mark  for  the  prosy  criticism  of  a  quorum  of 
pietists,  mature,  staid,  incapable  of  making  allowances. 
Wesley's  behaviour  was  abominable.  He  had  won 
the  girl's  confidence,  and  all  the  Moravians  in  the 
world  could  not  absolve  him  from  the  obligation  of 
the  unwritten  pact,  the  unspoken  vow.1  He  professed 
to  feel  the  blow  keenly,  but  he  had  no  right  to  make 
Miss  Sophy's  peccadilloes  an  excuse  for  self-imposed 
penance.  The  best  apology  that  can  be  offered  for  his 
vacillation  is  this — that  he  was  deficient  in  primary 
human  instinct.  His  brother  Samuel  knew  something 
of  his  capabilities  as  a  lover.  When  he  learnt  that  the 
match  was  "  off,"  he  expressed  regret,  "  for,"  said  he, 
"  you  are  unlikely  to  find  another." 

But  worse  was  to  follow.  Not  content  with  disap- 
pointing Miss  Sophy,  he  must  cast  a  slur  on  Mrs. 
Williamson  by  constituting  himself  a  severe  censor  of 
her  morals.  Now  that  she  was  lawfully  married, 
Mrs.  Williamson's  morals  might  have  been  deemed  a 
matter  rather  for  her  husband's  concern  than  for 
Wesley's.  Wesley,  however,  ministered  at  the  altar, 
and,  as  the  rubric  expressly  required  him  to  "  advertise  " 

1  Miss  Hopkey,  however,  alleged  that  Wesley  made  her  a  definite 
offer,  and  was  willing  to  go  a  long  way  in  meeting  her  objections. 
Wesley's  own  statements  are  rather  vague. 


48  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


notorious  and  evil  livers  against  coming  to  the  Lord's 
Table,  he  informed  his  late  inamorata  that,  without 
proof  of  contrition,  she  could  not  be  admitted  to  the 
sacred  rite.  He  concluded  a  series  of  technicalities  by 
actually  repelling  her  from  Holy  Communion. 

Naturally,  Mr.  Williamson  was  furious,  and  prose- 
cuted Wesley  for  defaming  his  wife's  character.  The 
legal  incidents,  though  Wesley  makes  the  best  of 
them,  attest  his  unpopularity  in  the  colony.  An  effort 
was  made  to  include  in  the  indictment  a  number  of 
other  counts.  Eventually  they  were  struck  out,  but 
the  effect,  and  perhaps  the  intention,  of  the  proceedings 
was  to  convince  Wesley  that,  for  him,  Georgia  was 
no  longer  habitable.  He  accepted  the  situation,  and 
defiantly  departed. 

Wesley's  apologists — for  example,  the  Rev.  Richard 
Watson — are  forced  to  allow  that,  in  treating  Mrs. 
Williamson  as  he  did,  he  was  neither  prudent  nor 
courteous.  There  can  be  no  question  of  that.  Whether 
he  was  influenced  by  jealousy  or  revenge  is  a  point  on 
which  opinions  will  differ.  Probably  he  was  not.  But, 
as  a  matter  of  tact,  of  good  taste  and  good  feeling,  he 
was  much  to  blame  in  selecting  for  public  opprobrium 
the  woman  whom  he  had  lately  thought  of  for  his  wife. 
Nor  can  he  be  acquitted  of  a  grave  lack  of  common 
sense  in  suddenly  reviving  forgotten  ecclesiastical 
usages,  the  exercise  of  which,  outside  the  pale  of  the 
Moravians,  was  bound  to  convey  a  far  more  serious 
stigma  than  Wesley  himself  either  contemplated  or 
desired.  Yet  the  retrospect  was  not  displeasing !  He  had 
lost  Miss  Sophy.  He  had  converted  no  large  percentage 
of  heathens.  But  he  had  benefited  his  own  soul,  and 
he  was  happily  devoid  of  any  sense  of  humiliation. 


CHAPTER  III 


APOSTLESHIP 

The  Fear  of  Death — Peter  Bohler — Justification  by  Faith — John 
Gambold — Hell — Methodist  Type  of  Conversion — Wesley  and 
Manzoni  compared — 24th  May  1738 — Rudeness  to  William 
Law — Montaigne's  Three  Orders — The  Church  of  England — 
Adventures  of  Bishop  Wilson  —  Non- Residence  —  Dissent  — 
Religion  at  Zero  —  The  Apostle  of  England  —  Visit  to 
Germany. 

The  scene  now  changes  to  London.  The  image  of 
Miss  Sophy  had  been  effaced  from  his  heart,  and 
Wesley's  mind  was  centred  on  his  own  perilous  state 
before  God.  He  had  a  decided  faculty  for  introspec- 
tion, as  well  as  a  decided  fondness  for  psychological 
stock-taking.  The  observation  made  during  the  out- 
ward voyage,  now  that  he  had  once  more  leisure  from 
amorous  distractions  and  ministerial  responsibilities, 
returned  upon  him  with  full  force.  He  felt  that  he 
wanted  faith,  that  he  wanted  salvation,  that  he  wanted 
peace — peace  in  life  and  death.  "  I  went  to  America 
to  convert  the  Indians,  but,  oh !  who  shall  convert  vie  ? 
Who  is  he  that  will  deliver  me  from  this  evil  heart  of 
unbelief  ?  I  have  a  fair  summer  religion.  I  can  talk 
well,  nay,  and  believe  myself,  while  no  danger  is 
present,  but  let  death  look  me  in  the  face,  and  my 
4 


5o  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


spirit  is  troubled.  Nor  can  I  say,  'To  die  is 
gain.' 

'  I  have  a  sin  of  fear  that,  when  I've  spun 
My  last  thread,  I  shall  perish  on  the  shore.'" 

A  stickler  in  such  matters  might  be  disposed  to  find 
fault  with  the  quotation,  in  which  the  connection 
between  spinning  a  thread  and  perishing  on  the  shore 
is,  to  say  the  least,  not  pressingly  obvious.  Perhaps  a 
reminiscence  of  Clotho,  first  of  the  Fates,  is  the  missing 
link.  Anyhow,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  allowing  that 
Wesley  might  have  been  happier  in  his  poetical 
excursus. 

Be  the  poetry  what  it  may,  there  can  be  no  dispute 
as  to  the  drift  of  the  passage.  Wesley  feared  death, 
and  since  he  feared  death,  he  suspected  that  his  faith  was 
vain,  that  he  was  yet  in  his  sins.  That  his  faith  might 
have  been  more  robust,  more  vivid,  may  be  conceded,  but 
it  seems  hardly  reasonable  to  treat  the  fear  of  death 
as  an  absolute  test  of  religion.  This  feeling  is  deep- 
rooted,  widespread.  In  the  opening  scene  of  the  Alcestis 
Euripides  introduces  a  characteristic  dialogue  between 
Apollo  and  Death.  The  King  of  Terrors  gloats  over 
his  promised  victim — the  devoted  wife  who,  alone  of 
his  relations,  was  willing  to  die  for  Admetus.  The 
sacrifice  is  all  the  more  precious  because  the  substitute 
is  young,  and  Death,  in  pitilessly  rejecting  Apollo's 
intercession,  observes  grimly  : 

"Who  might  would  buy  grey  heads  to  die  for  them." 

And  Wesley  was  not  very  old. 

The  fear  of  death  is,  in  fact,  an  ordinance  of  Nature, 
conjointly  with  the  instinct  of  reproduction,  for  the 
preservation  of  the  species,  and  exists  'potentially  in 


APOSTLESHIP 


51 


the  ratio  of  mental  and  physical  health.  Courage  may 
be  defined  as  the  quality  that  enables  one  to  banish 
the  thought  of  death  at  a  moment  when  its  presence 
would  be  inconvenient,  and,  perhaps,  fatal.  But  no 
amount  of  courage  can  reconcile  the  full  enjoyment  of 
life  with  easy  acquiescence  in  its  negation. 

This  fact  has  been  well  understood  by  preachers  and 
moralists,  who  counsel  extreme  moderation  in  earthly 
pleasures,  if  not  entire  abstinence  from  them,  as  the 
sole  remedy  for  what  they  are  pleased  to  term  the 
"  sin  of  fear."  In  his  Practical  Discourse  concerning 
Death,  which  was  first  published  in  1689,  and  of  which 
there  were  at  least  twenty  editions,  Dean  Sherlock  begins 
a  fine  peroration  with  the  words  :  "  The  only  way  to 
cure  this  fear  of  death  is  to  mortify  all  remains  of  love 
and  affection  for  this  world,  to  withdraw  ourselves  as 
much  as  may  be  from  the  conversation  of  it,  to  use  it 
very  sparingly  and  with  great  indift'erency."  This  is, 
indeed,  the  principle  of  the  cloister — inoculation.  You 
grow  resigned  to  death,  because  you  have  anticipated 
its  effects.  In  imagination  you  have  passed,  not  once, 
nor  twice,  but  many  times,  within  the  veil.  The 
Unseen  has  become  for  you  a  home,  an  abiding-place. 

Besides  a  natural  and  wholesome  fear  of  death, 
common  to  most  men,  there  is  also  a  morbid  fear, 
which  seems  to  have  afflicted,  inter  alios,  Dr.  Johnson. 
But  Wesley's  sentiment,  it  is  safe  to  aver,  was  whole- 
some. He  was  in  possession  of  good  health.  His 
faculties  were  keen.  There  was  plenty  to  do  in  the 
world.  If  he  was  unwilling,  and  even  afraid,  to  die, 
he  was  not  of  necessity  devoid  of  faith.  The  truth  is 
that  religious  people  are  apt  to  identify  natural  feel- 
ings with  spiritual  emotions.    And  sometimes  they 


52  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


make  grave  mistakes.  When  the  Life  of  Dr.  Pusey 
appeared,  a  reviewer  suggested  that  the  depression  of 
which  that  great  leader  complained,  and  for  which  he 
punished  himself  with  a  hair  shirt,  was  really  the 
sensation  of  lost  youth.  Pusey  himself  did  not  com- 
prehend his  malady — exhaustion  of  spirits — hut  that, 
it  was  thought,  was  the  root  of  the  evil.  This  feature 
often  makes  the  journals  of  religious  people — not 
Wesley's  Journals — painful,  and  even  repellent.  The 
writers  are  for  ever  accusing  themselves  of  faults 
that  belong  to  change  and  decay,  to  climate  and  to 
weather. 

Nature,  however,  is  bountiful.  If  she  deals  a  wound, 
she  also  provides  a  salve.  If  she  sows  the  bane,  she 
makes  to  rise  with  it  the  antidote.  In  the  life  of  man 
the  consolations  of  religion  are  always  open.  When 
human  resources  fail,  the  victims  of  circumstance,  the 
thralls  of  conscience,  may  repair  to  the  Great  Physician. 
But  in  these  contingencies  Providence  not  seldom 
resembles  Nature.  The  demand  creates  the  supply. 
The  Great  Physician  has  His  deputies.  Is  Saul  of 
Tarsus  incapacitated — blinded  by  the  exceeding  bright- 
ness of  the  vision  ?  Ananias  is  commissioned  to  attend 
him,  and  the  scales  fall  from  his  eyes.  In  the 
same  manner,  when  John  Wesley's  confidence  departed, 
when  his  prayers,  his  fasts,  his  communions  seemed 
worthless,  and  he  sighed  for  peace,  Peter  Bohler,  as 
though  despatched  for  the  purpose,  arrived  in  London 
from  Germany,  and  furnished  the  desired  boon. 

Peter  Bohler — whom  Tyerman,  with  irritating  per- 
sistency, calls  Bohler — was  a  young  man  of  twenty-six, 
who  had  studied  at  the  University  of  Jena,  and  had 
afterwards  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Moravians.  The 


APOSTLESHIP 


53 


year  before  he  had  been  consecrated  bishop  by  Count 
Zinzendorf,  and  was  prepared  to  employ  the  powers 
entrusted  to  hirn  for  the  benefit  of  sincere  candidates, 
whether  German  or  English.  His  ultimate  destination, 
however,  was  America. 

The  German  bishop  was  a  real  father  in  God  to  his 
audience  in  London,  and  soon  the  Moravians  seem  to 
have  looked  upon  him  as  an  inspired  genius  or  as 
endued  with  a  double  portion  of  the  Spirit.  His 
addresses  were  given  in  Latin,  but  a  learned  tailor 
called  Viney  acted  as  interpreter,  and  the  effects  were 
very  striking.  The  Wesleys,  having  met  Bohler  at 
the  house  of  a  Dutch  merchant,  rendered  him  such 
services  as  his  position  in  a  strange  land  appeared 
to  require.  John  Wesley  procured  him  lodgings. 
Charles  Wesley  taught  him  English.  By  way  of 
return,  Peter  Bohler  taught  both  John  and  Charles 
Wesley  the  meaning  of  faith.  In  a  letter  to  Zinzen-  , 
dorf  he  diagnosed  their  case  as  follows : — The  elder 
was  a  good-natured  man,  who  knew  that  he  did  not 
properly  believe  on  the  Saviour,  and  was  willing 
to  be  taught,  while  the  younger  was  very  much 
distressed  in  mind,  but  did  not  know  how  he  should 
begin  to  be  acquainted  with  the  Saviour. 

What  was  the  difficulty  ?  There  was  the  rub — 
there  was  no  difficulty.  Had  there  been  a  difficulty 
the  Englishmen  would  have  mastered  it,  but  the 
ease  and  simplicity  of  the  thing  baffled  them. 
Although  their  belief  was  only  of  a  general  descrip- 
tion, they  could  not  divest  themselves  of  the  notion 
that  they  believed  already,  and  that  their  belief 
must  be  expressed  in  practice.  The  result  was 
that   they  were   at  heart  very  miserable.  Bohler 


54  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


taught  them  that  intellectual  assent  was  not  sufficient, 
that  faith  was  an  affair  of  the  heart,  that  faith  alone 
was  necessary  to  salvation. 

The  Moravians  held  also  that  the  change  from  a 
mere  formal  belief,  or  intellectual  assent,  to  real  faith 
was  instantaneous,  and  that  this  real  faith,  the  opera- 
tion of  a  moment,  was  the  reception  of  the  divine 
impress,  transfiguring  the  whole  nature.  If  a  simile 
may  be  taken  from  the  popular  art  of  photography,  it 
was  as  if  the  human  soul  were  a  film  completely 
shrouded  in  gloom.  For  a  fraction,  and  only  a  fraction, 
of  a  second  the  film  is  bared  to  the  light.  But  during 
that  brief  exposure  the  nature  of  the  film  has  been 
radically  altered.  Properly  treated,  it  is  now  capable 
of  reproducing  in  countless  exemplars  the  beauty  of 
which  it  was  the  passive  recipient.  Just  as  the  film  is 
"  sensitised,"  so  the  human  soul  must  be  rendered  tender 
and  responsive ;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  film,  there 
must  be  complete  passivity.  There  can  be  no  question 
of  works. 

That  was  the  doctrine  which  Bolder  taught  the 
Wesleys,  and  the  Wesleys  accepted.  John  Wesley  did 
indeed  afterwards  differ  from  the  Moravians  concern- 
ing the  importance  of  works.  He  did  not  think  works 
absolutely  negligible.  But  he  agreed  that  works 
were  in  no  sense  a  condition  precedent  to  salvation. 
Theoretically,  he  had  always  held  that  view,  but,  in 
the  strenuous  discharge  of  duty,  he  had  no  doubt 
made  an  idol  of  work,  and  so,  perhaps  half -uncon- 
sciously, of  works. 

In  the  heyday  of  his  Oxford  sacramentarianism, 
Wesley  was  certainly  not  miserable.  Gambold  says 
of  that  period,  "  I  could  say  a  great  deal  of  his  private 


APOSTLESHIP 


5  5 


piety,  how  it  was  nourished  by  a  continual  recourse  to 
God,  and  preserved  by  a  strict  watchfulness  in  beating 
(1  >wn  pride  and  reducing  the  craftiness  and  impetuosity 
of  nature  to  a  childlike  simplicity,  and  in  a  good 
degree  crowned  with  divine  love  and  victory  over 
the  whole  set  of  earthly  passions.  He  thought  prayer 
to  be  more  his  business  than  anything  else,  and  I  have 
seen  him  come  out  of  his  closet  with  a  serenity  of 
countenance  that  was  next  to  shining." 

Even  so  recently  as  January  1738  he  had  written  in 
his  Journal :  "  From  this  day  I  had  no  more  of  that 
fearfulness  and  heaviness,  which  before  almost  con- 
tinually weighed  me  down.  I  am  sensible  that  one 
who  thinks  the  being  in  orco,  as  they  phrase  it,  an 
indispensable  preparation  for  being  a  Christian,  would 
say  I  had  better  have  continued  in  that  state  ;  and  that 
this  unseasonable  relief  was  a  curse,  not  a  blessing. 
Nay,  but  who  art  thou,  O  man,  who,  in  favour  of  a 
wretched  hypothesis,  thus  blasphemest  the  good  gift 
of  God  ?  Hath  not  He  Himself  said,  '  This  also  is  the 
gift  of  God,  if  a  man  have  power  to  rejoice  in  his 
labour.'  Yea,  God  setteth  His  own  seal  to  his  weak 
endeavours,  while  he  thus  '  answereth  him  in  the  joy 
of  his  life.' " 

Wesley,  however,  had  always  suffered  an  amount 
of  unrest  through  speculation.  Jeremy  Taylor  had 
perplexed  him  with  his  heroic  version  of  humility 
and  his  counsel  of  perpetual  penitence.  William  Law 
had  perplexed  him  with  his  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection. And  now  there  was  this  "  sin  of  fear."  In 
the  very  next  paragraph  in  his  Journal  to  that 
recording  the  triumph  over  depression — and  Wesley 
in  all  his  life  never  struck  a  higher  note — there  is  a 


56  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


sensible  change  of  tone.  "  Who  shall  convert  me  ? " 
he  exclaims. 

The  answer  is  that  Peter  Bohler  was  to  accomplish 
this  feat.  He  was  to  convert  not  only  John  Wesley, 
but  Charles  Wesley,  and,  in  addition,  John  Gambold. 
Gambold,  resigning  his  Anglican  cure,  was  elected  a 
Moravian  bishop.  This  was  a  mark  of  high  confi- 
dence, but,  on  the  whole, — especially  as  he  had  no 
quarrel  with  the  Church  and  her  formularies, — he 
would  better  have  remained  as  he  was.  A  man  of 
talent,  he  wrote  a  drama  entitled  The  Martyrdom 
of  St.  Ignatius,  and  he  wrote  fugitive  pieces.  These 
fugitive  pieces  render  it  evident  that  he  was  not 
happy.  Goethe  observes  that  English  literature,  at 
any  rate  in  its  later  periods,  is  steeped  in  melancholy, 
and  a  glance  at  contemporary  anthologies  fully  bears 
out  this  observation.  Perhaps,  therefore,  it  would 
be  wrong  to  charge  the  whole  of  this  convert's  dejec- 
tion on  his  Moravian  episcopacy  and  the  consequent 
severance  from  old  ties  and  familiar  associations.  It 
is,  however,  open  to  surmise  whether  Gambold  ever 
recovered  from  the  shock  of  his  conversion. 

Though  Bohler  speaks  of  "  our  German  mode "  as 
simple,  it  is  plain  that  many  of  his  disciples — Charles 
Wesley,  for  one — found  conversion  so  hard  as  to  be 
almost  impracticable.  Now  what  was  conversion  as 
understood  by  Moravian  and  Methodist?  In  the 
first  place,  it  had  to  do  with  fear.  When  Boswell 
asked  Johnson  the  reason  of  those  dreadful 
paroxysms  at  the  thought  of  death,  the  doctor  ex- 
plained that  he  was  tormented  with  apprehensions 
of  hell,  of  eternal  damnation.  In  the  case  of  so  great 
and  good  a  man  as  the  lexicographer,  such  apprehen- 


APOSTLESHIP 


5  7 


sions  must  be  pronounced,  to  a  large  extent,  morbid, 
but,  of  whatever  description  the  fear  might  be,  it  was 
in  that  painfully  tender,  that  eagerly  responsive  state 
of  mind  that  conversion  was  most  easy. 

John  Wesley  was  troubled  more  by  the  sin  of  fear 
than  by  the  fear  of  hell,  but,  of  course,  the  admission 
that  he  was  no  Christian  let  in  the  hem  of  that  terrible 
vision.  To  Wesley,  as  to  Dante,  hell  was  no  dim 
speculation,  no  incredible  myth,  no  superstitious  fancy, 
no  relic  of  obsolete  devil-worship,  but  a  central  and 
cardinal  fact.  Bolder  said  to  him,  Mi  frater,  mi 
frater,  excoquenda  est  ista  tua  philosophia,  and  on 
this  point  Wesley  did  not  philosophise  too  subtly.  He 
resigned  himself  to  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  Bible  said,  and  said  repeatedly,  "  There  is  a  hell." 

To  the  mere  philosopher  the  subject  is  not  free  from 
difficulty.  It  is  hard  to  reconcile  the  doctrine  of  per- 
petual retribution  with  the  doctrine  of  divine  com- 
passion. Doubtless,  a  mystic  may  say  that  hell  is  a 
mental  and  moral  necessity,  entailed  by  the  measure- 
less ingratitude,  the  inexpiable  crime  of  rejecting 
the  love  of  God.  This  plea,  however,  is  more  ingen- 
uous than  convincing.  Few  persons  are  conscious  of 
such  rejection.  It  will  be  urged  that  practical  rejection 
takes  place  in  every  act  of  sin.  That  may  be,  but  the 
insertion  of  the  adjective  enormously  diminishes  the 
offence.  The  paramount  question  is  the  motive,  and, 
even  in  the  worst  of  crimes,  it  is  seldom  that  there  is 
any  blasphemous  intention. 

However,  let  us  do  as  Bolder  suggests.  Let  us  boil 
away  our  philosophy,  and  cleave  to  Revelation.  Writing 
in  the  North  American  Review  for  April  1886,  the  late 
Mr.  Gladstone  remarked  :  "  Menace,  as  well  as  promise, 


5  8  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


menace  for  those  whom  promise  could  not  melt  or 
move,  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  provision  for 
working  out  the  redemption  of  the  world.  So  far  as 
my  knowledge  and  experience  go,  we  are  in  danger 
of  losing  this  subject  out  of  sight  and  out  of  mind. 
I  am  not  now  speaking  of  everlasting  punishments 
in  particular,  but  of  all  and  any  punishment ;  and  can 
it  be  right,  can  it  be  warrantable  that  the  pulpit  and 
the  press  should  advisedly  fall  short  of  the  standard 
established  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  not  less 
uniformly  by  the  earliest  and  most  artless  period  of 
hortatory  Christian  teaching  ?  " 

Wesley,  at  least,  was  secure  from  this  reproach.  He 
required  that  his  disciples,  if  they  would  ascend  into 
heaven,  should  first  descend  into  hell.  They  were  to 
descend  into  hell  symbolically,  in  the  miracle  of  Con- 
version, or  the  New  Birth.  Conversion  did  not  mean 
simply  amendment.  Amendment  there  must  be,  but  it 
was  not  the  thing,  the  substance.  It  was  an  effect,  a 
symptom,  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  a  meta- 
physical, a  psychological  change.  In  the  language 
of  St.  Paul,  conversion  was  putting  on  the  new  man. 

The  orthodox  mode  of  achieving  this  result  was 
to  induce  a  general  crisis  signalised  by  emotional 
tumult  and  intellectual  chaos.  By  austere  denunciation 
of  sin,  by  holding  before  his  terrified  fancy  lurid 
visions  of  the  Last  Things,  by  insisting  on  his  personal 
interest  in  the  approach  of  the  Day  of  Judgment,  the 
sinner  was  plunged  into  a  spiritual  furnace,  now  aglow 
with  white  agony,  now  dull  with  black  despair. 

This  phase  of  the  transforming  process  was  described 
as  "  conviction  of  sin."  No  term  was  assigned  for  the 
duration  of  t"h"e"""p"hase.    It  might  be  a  few  hours,  it 


APOSTLESHIP 


59 


might  even  be  a  few  minutes,  or  it  might  be  weeks. 
Belief  came  in  a  vivid  perception  of  Christ,  not  only  as 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  but  as  forgiving  and  loving 
the  penitent  himself.  This  blissful  experience  has 
been  the  object  of  his  quest  from  the  beginning,  but 
the  retrospect  of  the  past,  an  appalling  sense  of  his 
own  demerits,  has  rendered  him  incredulous.  It  has 
seemed  to  him  impossible  that  the  record  of  daily, 
of  hourly  transgressions  can  be  erased,  that  his  league 
with  Satan,  his  long  rebellion  against  the  Majesty 
of  Heaven  can  be  condoned.  But  at  length  he  does 
believe  this.  He  has  saving  faith.  He  has  been 
soundly  converted.  The  seeker  is  now  held  to  have 
found  the  Saviour,  to  have  found  peace.  Yes,  truly  .' 
After  so  many  conflicts,  so  many  doubts,  he  may  well 
exclaim  with  Dante's  imparadised  progenitor, 

"Dal  gran  niartirio  venni  a  questa  pace."1 

Probably  it  will  be  objected  that  this  mode  of 
regeneration  translates  into  prose,  and  sometimes 
into  not  very  elegant  prose,  the  loftiest  and  most 
ethereal  aspirations  of  the  human  soul,  that  it 
renders  banal  the  spiritual  processes  of  heroic  and 
finely  tempered  natures  endued  with  exquisite  sensi- 
bility, with  rare  subtlety,  with  all  that  is  compre- 
hended in  that  incomprehensible  word  "  genius."  The 
faculty  of  imagination,  always  inseparable  from 
genius  and  often  confounded  with  it,  has  led  seers  to 
clothe  their  thoughts,  their  feelings,  their  incessant 
broodings  over  the  mysteries  of  being  in  the  "  simple 
and  sensuous  "  language  of  poetry. 

Take,  for  instance,  Newman's  affecting  lyric,  "  Lead, 

1  "Out  of  great  martyrdom  came  I  to  this  peace." 


6o  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


kindly  Light."  The  little  poem,  more  prayer  than 
homily,  more  reverie  than  reasoning,  tells  of  a  silent 
conflict  arising  out  of  the  intrusion  of  intellectual 
douht  and  the  as  yet  ineffectual  resistance  of  the 
moral  axioms.  It  has  been  made  a  hymn,  and  is  sung 
with  unmistakable  gusto  by  thousands  of  persons,  who 
never  have  doubted  and  never  will  doubt.  There  is, 
however,  a  broad  resemblance  between  the  sentiments 
it  defines  and  those  of  a  person  "  under  conviction  of 
sin." 

The  Methodist  type  of  conversion  may  be  criticised 
as  too  mechanical,  too  much  a  matter  of  vogue  and 
constraint,  but  it  is  a  very  silly  and  vulgar  delusion 
that  conversion  of  any  and  every  sort  is  a  proper 
subject  for  ridicule.  People  who  affirm  that,  and  tell 
you  that  it  will  do  you  no  harm  to  be  converted,  stamp 
themselves  as  animals.  Of  course,  conversion  does  not 
follow  invariably  the  same  lines,  but,  in  the  end,  it 
always  implies  the  same  thing.  The  man  or  woman 
who  has  passed  through  this  ordeal  has  begun  his 
ascent  towards  the  Eternal. 

Dante's  experience  seems  to  have  been,  like  New- 
man's, a  long,  and  gradual,  and  difficult  transition  from 
the  night  of  doubt  to  the  dawn  of  real  faith.  In  the 
case  of  his  countryman  Manzoni  the  denouement  was 
dramatic.  It  was  a  genuine  example  of  instantaneous 
conversion.  The  Italian,  already  sickly,  was  wending 
his  way  through  the  streets  of  Paris  when  he  was 
overtaken  by  sudden  illness,  and  sought  refuge  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Hoc.  On  recovering,  he  was  awed  by 
the  mystery  of  the  place,  and  received  such  an  influx 
of  spiritual  consolation  that  he  felt  himself  aflame 
with  faith.     According  to  Quintilian,  penitence  is 


APOSTLESHIP 


61 


more  meritorious  than  innocence,  and  it  may  have 
oeen  on  that  principle  that  Manzoni  attached  what 
many  have  deemed  an  exaggerated  importance  to  this 
conversion.  Indeed,  his  latest  biographer,  Signor  Luca 
Bettrami,  remarks  that  "  instead  of  being  a  conversion 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  it  was  a  spontaneous 
affirmation  of  what  had  been  long  ripening  in  the 
depth  of  that  elect  soul." 

What  now  is  to  be  said  of  Wesley's  conversion  I 
There  is  a  partial,  though  not  perfect,  analogy  between 
the  two  cases,  inasmuch  as  neither  Wesley  nor  Manzoni 
brought  to  the  supreme  moment  a  sullied  reputation.1 
So  far  as  outward  eyes  could  detect,  they  were  both 
good  men,  but  both  looked  back  to  their  conversion  as 
an  epoch  of  infinite  seriousness.  Wesley's  conversion, 
however,  was  in  no  sense  spontaneous.  He  preached 
at  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  the  strange  doctrine  of 
Justification  by  Faith  before  he  had  realised  in  him- 
self what  it  meant ;  and  for  preaching  it  he  was  for- 
bidden the  use  of  the  church.  His  mentor  encouraged 
the  practice.  "  Preach  faith,"  said  Peter  Bbhler,  "  till 
you  have  it ;  and  then  you  will  preach  faith,  because 
you  have  it." 

This  admonition,  a  delicate  morsel  of  Christian 
casuistry,  leads  Coleridge  to  observe,  "  Is  not  this  too 
like,  tell  a  lie  long  enough,  and  often  enough,  and  3-ou 
will  be  sure  to  end  in  believing  it  ? "  However,  the 
philosopher  is  not  unjust.  He  adds,  "  And  yet  much 
may  be  said,  where  the  moral  interest  of  mankind 
demands  it,  and  reason  does  not  countermand,  or 
where  the  Scripture  seems  expressly  to  assert  it." 

1  Wesley's  affair  with  Miss  Hotkey  was  an  instance  rather  of  im- 
becility than  of  moral  faultiness. 


62  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


The  truth  is  that  Wesley  became  intellectually  con- 
vinced of  the  need  of  a  specific  change  before  he  was 
personally  cognisant  of  it  by  way  of  his  emotions. 
He  was  in  the  position  of  having  pledged  himself  to 
submit  to  the  process,  and  meanwhile,  in  the  words 
of  the  Psalter,  he  "tarried  the  Lord's  leisure."  He 
frankly  rejoiced  when  his  seraphic  brother  found  that 
peace  to  which  he  was  still  a  stranger,  and  incidentally 
he  furnished  a  problem  for  Coleridge  by  recording 
that  Charles,  who  was  suffering  from  a  second  attack 
of  pleurisy,  recovered  his  strength  from  that  hour. 

There  is  really  nothing  to  condemn  in  this  posture 
of  anticipation,  or,  if  there  be  anything,  it  is  lack  of 
reticence  and  reserve.  But  eccentric  conduct  may 
often  be  accounted  for  by  eccentric  company.  Wesley 
freely  consorted  with  the  Moravians,  and  took  the 
young  bishop  to  Oxford,  where  their  singular  appear- 
ance provoked  many  a  civil  leer  in  the  golden  youth, 
and  probably  more  boisterous  demonstrations  from 
men  and  women  who  were  not  golden. 

Always  a  gentleman,  Wesley  felt  more  concern  for 
his  companion  than  for  himself,  but  Border's  equan- 
imity remained  unimpaired.  Ridicule,  he  said,  does 
not  stick  to  the  clothes.  Now  mud  and  rotten  eggs 
do,  but  they  attest  a  degree  of  exasperation  that  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  most  consoling.  Men  like  Pitt,  and 
Fox,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  have  to  fly  before 
a  fusilade  of  filth.  Verbal  sarcasms,  on  the  other 
hand,  convey  pure  contempt,  and  therefore  make  a 
considerable  draught  on  one's  philosophy.  Anyhow, 
Wesley  was  a  seasoned  veteran.  Against  these  de- 
vices of  the  enemy  the  ex-curator  of  the  Holy  Club 
needed  not  to  be  animated  by  Peter  Bohler. 


APOSTLESHIP 


65 


At  length  the  Pentecostal  grace  was  vouchsafed. 
Wesley,  in  his  methodical  or  Methodistical  way,  had 
drawn  up  good  resolutions,  and  assisted  in  forming  a 
little  society  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  edification.  It 
was  in  connection  with  this  little  society  that  his  con- 
version ultimately  took  place.  "In  the  evening,"  he 
says,  "  I  went  very  unwillingly  to  a  society  in  Alders- 
gate  Street,  where  one  was  reading  Luther's  preface  to 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  About  a  quarter  before 
nine,  while  he  was  describing  the  change  which  God 
works  in  the  heart  through  faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my 
heart  strangely  warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ, 
Christ  alone,  for  salvation ;  and  an  assurance  was 
given  me,  that  He  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even 
mine,  and  saved  me  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death." 

The  precise  date  of  this  event,  so  fruitful  in  conse- 
quences for  Wesley  and  the  world,  was  the  24th  May 
1738.  About  three  weeks  before,  Bohler  had  departed 
for  Carolina,  but  Wesley's  first  steps — and  for  a  day 
or  two  they  were  feeble  and  full  of  hesitation,  with  no 
sense  of  joy — were  guided  by  another  Moravian  called 
Telchig.  However,  amidst  tremors  and  tribulation, 
the  prime  object  had  been  gained.  Wesley,  as  he 
avers,  had  found  peace.1  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
point  out  the  vast  historical  interest  attaching  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  Apostle  of  Germany  had  so 
large  and  direct  a  share  in  the  conversion  of  the 
Apostle  of  England. 

This  episode  suggests  several  interesting  questions. 
How  did  Wesley's  state  after  his  conversion  differ  from 
his  state  before  his  .conversion  ?    He  has  himself  en- 

1  Wesley  may  have  been  "justified  "  on  this  occasion,  but  he  had  not, 
in  any  intelligible  sense,  found  peace.    See  below. 


64  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


lightened  us.  "  I  was  striving,  yea,  fighting  with  all 
my  might  under  the  law,  as  well  as  under  grace.  But 
then  I  was  sometimes,  if  not  often,  conquered.  Now  I 
am  always  conqueror."  His  conflicts  did  not  cease- 
he  had  manifold  temptations — but  through  them  all  he 
was  transfused  with  a  consciousness  of  victory.  Else- 
where he  has  defined  the  difference  as  that  between 
slave  and  son.   He  had  been  a  slave  ;  now  he  was  a  son. 

Is  justification  in  this  sense  necessary  to  salvation  ? 
That  is  a  momentous  problem,  and  Wesley  evidently 
felt  it  to  be  momentous.  Probably  at  the  time  he 
deemed  instantaneous  conversion,  for  him  at  least,  in- 
dispensable. But,  if  the  Moravians  were  in  the  right, 
what  of  his  venerable  father,  who  had  so  lately  de- 
parted this  life  in  the  faith  and  fear  of  God  ?  What 
of  his  brother  Samuel,  his  second  father,  who  was  so 
soon  to  reach  the  bourn  ?  The  old  Westminster  boy 
and  Tiverton  schoolmaster  was  strongly  opposed  to  the 
doctrine  of  assurance.  As  his  epistles  testify,  he  did 
not  at  all  believe  in  it.  Neither  did  William  Law. 
Ten  days  before  his  conversion,  Wesley,  in  one  of 
those  fits  of  gaucherie  which  so  disfigure  his  career, 
addressed  to  his  former  guide  a  highly  improper  letter. 
He  told  him  that  Bolder,  of  whose  authority  in  these 
matters  Law  was  profoundly  unaware,  thought  his 
(Law's)  condition  most  perilous,  and  concluded  with  the 
incredibly  rude  and  dictatorial  request,  "  Once  more, 
sir,  let  me  beg  you  to  consider  whether  your  extreme 
roughness,  and  morose  and  sour  behaviour,  at  least  on 
many  occasions,  can  possibly  be  the  fruit  of  a  living 
faith  in  Christ  ?  " 

Wesley's  Journals  prove  that  his  views  as  to  the 
position  of  William  Law,  and  as  to  justification  in 


APOSTLESHIP 


65 


general,  became  greatly  modified.  In  the  mellow  light 
of  "old  experience"  he  saw  that  the  rash  judgment  of 
a  young  enthusiast  like  Bohler  must  not  be  implicitly 
received  as  divine  inspiration.  On  Tuesday,  Decem- 
ber 1, 1769,  he  wrote  :  "  Being  alone  in  the  coach,  I  was 
considering  several  points  of  importance.  And  thus 
much  appeared  as  clear  as  the  day : — 

"That  a  man  may  be  saved  who  cannot  express 
himself  properly  concerning  imputed  righteousness. 
Therefore  to  do  this  is  not  necessary  to  salvation : 

"  That  a  man  may  be  saved  who  has  not  clear  con- 
ceptions of  it — yea,  that  never  heard  the  phrase.  There- 
fore clear  conceptions  of  it  are  not  necessary  to  salva- 
tion. Yea,  it  is  not  necessary  to  salvation  to  use  the 
phrase  at  all : 

"That  a  pious  churchman  who  has  not  clear  con- 
ceptions even  of  justification  by  faith  may  be  saved. 
Therefore  clear  conceptions  even  of  this  are  not  neces- 
sary to  salvation : 

"That  a  mystic  who  denies  justification  by  faith 
(Mr.  Law,  for  instance)  may  be  saved.  But,  if  so, 
what  becomes  of  the  articulus  stantis  vet  cadentis 
ecclesice  ?    Is  it  not  high  time  for  us 

1  Projicere  ampullas  et  sesquipedalia  verba,' 

and  to  return  to  the  plain  word,  '  He  that  feareth  God, 
and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted '  ? "  /s 
Montaigne  divided  mankind  into  three  classes — the 
simple,  the  sceptical,  and  the  supremely  wise  and  good. 
His  words  deserve  to  be  quoted.  He  observes  that 
"men  of  simple  minds,  devoid  of  curiosity  and 
learning,  are  Christians  through  reverence  and 
obedience,  that  minds  of  middle  growth  and  moderate 
5 


66  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


capacities  are  most  prone  to  doubt  and  error,  but 
that  higher  intellects,  more  clear-sighted  and  better 
grounded  in  knowledge,  form  a  superior  class  of 
believers,  who,  through  long  and  religious  investiga- 
tions, arrive  at  the  fountain  of  light  in  the  Holy- 
Scriptures,  and  feel  the  mysterious  and  divine  meaning 
of  our  ecclesiastical  doctrines.  And  we  see  some 
who  reach  this  last  stage  through  the  second,  with 
marvellous  fruit  and  confirmation,  and  who,  having 
attained  the  extreme  limit  of  Christian  intelligence, 
enjoy  their  success  with  modesty  and  thanksgiving; 
unlike  those  men  of  another  stamp,  who,  in  order  to 
clear  themselves  of  the  suspicions  arising  from  past 
errors,  become  violent,  indiscreet,  unjust,  and  throw 
discredit  on  the  cause  they  pretend  to  serve." 

Wesley's  adversaries  would  not  have  scrupled  to 
apply  these  epithets — "  violent,"  "  indiscreet,"  "  unjust," 
and  "  throwing  discredit  on  the  cause  he  pretended  to 
serve  " — to  the  great  evangelist  himself,  and  after  that 
letter  to  William  Law,  who  shall  say  that  they  would 
have  been  wholly  inapposite  ?  In  the  meanwhile, 
what  about  Wesley's  adversaries  ?  It  is  hardly  too 
much  to  assert  that  they  were  comprised  in  two 
enormous  categories — the  Church  and  the  World. 
In  England  those  compartments  were  not  water- 
tight. The  partition  between  them  had  largely  broken 
down,  or  was  in  constant  danger  of  breaking  down, 
not  because  the  world  was  too  good,  but  because  the 
Church  was  not  good  enough.  Wesley's  Appeals  are 
documents  of  singular  value,  as  showing  what  the 
Church  of  England  had  become.  It  had  become  a 
"  wheel  of  State."  It  had  become  Caesar's.  That  the 
Church  should  be  at  least  conterminous  with  the 


APOSTLESHIP 


67 


nation  is  a  high  and  noble  ideal  to  which  men  should 
be  ready  to  sacrifice  the  strongest  personal  likings. 
That  the  most  sacred  offices,  and  especially  Holy 
Communion,  should  be  prostituted  to  political  ends, 
was  an  ignoble  ideal,  and  no  wonder  Wesley  kicked  at 
it.  He  had  acted  foolishly  towards  Mrs.  Williamson, 
but,  unless  you  insist  on  purely  conjectural  motives,  he 
had,  in  a  moral  sense,  been  guilty  only  of  trop  de  zele. 
With  most  ministers  of  the  Anglican  Church  the 
opposite  was  the  case.  If  all  clergymen  had  been  as 
punctual  and  conscientious  as  Wesley,  Mrs.  William- 
son would  have  had  immeasurably  less  reason  to 
complain.  It  is  probable  that  not  a  few — for  they 
were  not  all  ungodly  and  unholy  men — would  have 
preferred  a  higher  standard  of  duty.  But  they  dared 
not  embrace,  still  less  enforce,  such  a  standard,  for  to 
attempt  this  spelt  martyrdom. 

If  ever  there  was  a  man  of  whom  it  might  be  said 
that  he  adorned  his  profession,  it  was  the  late  Mr. 
Matthew  Arnold's  favourite,  Bishop  Wilson.  He  took 
immense  pains  in  educating  his  clergy,  and,  if  the 
general  condition  of  the  Church  was  as  Swift  has 
described,  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  redeeming  feature. 
Now  it  so  happened  that  the  identical  problem,  to  find 
which  Wesley  went  deliberately  out  of  his  way,  pre- 
sented itself  to  Wilson  in  the  ordinary  course  of  duty. 

It  is  a  miserable  story.  Madam  Horne,  the  wife  of 
the  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  confided  to  Arch- 
deacon Horrobin  that  she  had  witnessed  impropriety 
between  Sir  James  Poole  and  a  gentlewoman  named 
Puller.  On  the  faith  of  this  statement,  the  arch- 
deacon repelled  the  lady  from  the  Lord's  Table.  Not 
to  be  outdone,  the  accused  parties  addressed  themselves 


68  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


to  Bishop  Wilson.  On  investigation  the  charge  could  not 
be  proved,  and  had  all  the  look  of  a  malicious  invention. 
Sir  James  Poole  and  Mistress  Puller  both  denied  it  on 
oath,  and,  by  way  of  reparation,  Madam  Home  was 
called  on  to  acknowledge  her  fault  "  privately,  before 
the  vicar  of  the  parish,"  at  the  same  time  "  asking  for- 
giveness for  the  great  injury  done."  Madam  Horne,  on 
her  husband's  advice,  declined  to  do  anything  of  the 
sort,  and  sentence  was  pronounced  excluding  her  from 
Holy  Communion  until  such  time  as  her  offence  should 
have  been  purged.  The  archdeacon,  who  was  also 
chaplain  to  the  governor,  disregarded  this  decree  of  his 
bishop.  Thereupon  the  bishop  suspended  the  archdeacon. 

The  archdeacon's  course  was  now  clear.  If  he 
deemed  himself  oppressed,  the  obvious  authority  to 
invoke  was  the  Archbishop  of  York.  Horrobin  could 
have  had  none  of  the  instincts  of  a  churchman,  or  he 
would  not  have  hesitated  what  to  do.  Probably,  he 
never  did.  At  any  rate,  he  appealed  to  his  friend 
Captain  Horne,  and  Captain  Horne  obliged  his  friend 
the  archdeacon  by  finding  that  the  bishop  had 
exceeded  his  powers  and  by  fining  Wilson  £50  and 
his  vicars-general  £20  each.  As  all  three  refused  to 
pay,  the  man  of  war  sent  a  party  of  soldiers  to  arrest 
them,  and  Bishop  Wilson,  Dr.  Walker,  and  Mr. 
Curghay  were  kept  closely  confined  in  the  prison  of 
Castle  Rushin  for  nine  weeks. 

The  moral  of  this  story  is  evident.  The  internal 
discipline  of  the  Church  was  too  lax,  and  the  con- 
nection between  Church  and  State  too  close.  This 
admission  does  not  imply  that  there  should  be  no 
connection  between  Church  and  State.  Scotland,  too, 
had  its  religious  establishment,  but  in  Scotland  they 


APOSTLESHIP 


69 


managed  otherwise.  It  is  interesting  to  compare 
Convocation,  as  it  existed  before  its  "  perpetual " 
suspension  in  the  eighteenth  century,  with  the  General 
Assembly.  "  Take  from  us,"  said  Knox,  "  the  liberty  of 
\  98 niblies,  and  take  from  us  the  Evangel,  for  without 
Assemblies,  how  shall  good  order  and  unity  of  doctrine 
be  kept?"  Convocation  had  nothing  to  do  with 
doctrine  or  order,  but,  whilst  it  lasted,  it  gave  oppor- 
tunities for  informal  consultation,  and  that  was  some- 
thing.   But  it  was  not  liberty,  or  anything  like  liberty. 

Wilson's  career  suggests  another  consideration. 
Both  before  and  after  his  appointment  as  bishop,  he 
repeatedly  refused  valuable  livings  on  the  ground  that 
the  acceptance  of  them  would  have  conflicted  with 
"  the  resolves  of  his  conscience  against  non-residence." 
Few  of  his  contemporaries  shared  these  resolves,  and, 
as  the  necessary  consequence,  churches  were  served  by 
starving  deputies,  or  served  irregularly. 

"  For  a  few  weeks  the  pluralist  may  sport, 
But  spends  his  happier  hours  at  cards  and  court ; 
Leaving  his  curate  to  the  rustic  taunt 
Against  church  livings  he  must  ever  want. 
Fanatics,  infidels,  and  tythemen's  jars 
The  parish  fill  with  hatred,  vice,  and  wars." 

No  doubt  there  were  exceptions.  The  Vicar  of 
Wakefield  was  not,  could  not  have  been,  unique.  Not 
to  wander  afield — Epworth,  in  the  time  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Wesley,  offered  a  shining  example  of  a  parish 
priest  doing  his  duty  not  only  as  a  parish  priest,  but 
like  a  soldier.  However,  the  system  was  against  him. 
He  was  unpopular.  If  he  reformed  Epworth,  we 
know  what  Epworth  was  long  after  his  first  arrival. 
Dissent  was  played  out.     John   Furz,  an  early 


70  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


disciple  and  "half-itinerant"  of  Wesley,  gives  an 
amusing — or  perhaps  one  should  say,  saddening — 
account  of  the  way  its  priests — after  the  order  of  St. 
Paul — comported  themselves  in  the  rural  parishes. 
Furz  and  his  first  convert  had  heard  that  a  company 
of  Dissenters  met  at  a  private  house  on  Sunday 
evenings.  Accordingly,  the  ardent  Methodists  repaired 
thither  in  the  hope  and  expectation  of  a  spiritual 
feast.  What  did  they  find  ?  They  found  ten  persons 
sitting  round  a  table,  and  on  the  table  were  a  Bible,  a 
newspaper,  a  decanter,  and  glasses.  And  what  were 
the  religious  exercises  ?  "  First  they  ridiculed  the 
vicar,  etc. ;  next  they  drank  one  to  another,  and  offered 
the  glass  to  us,  but  we  did  not  drink.  Then  they 
related  the  faults  of  the  churchwardens  and  the 
overseers  of  the  poor,  till  one  read  part  of  the  news- 
paper, which  gave  occasion  to  discourse  on  the  state  of 
the  nation.  At  last  one  of  them  read  a  chapter  in  the 
Bible ;  another,  looking  at  his  watch,  said,  '  Bless  me, 
it  is  time  to  go  home ;  it  is  past  ten  o'clock  ! '  '  But,' 
said  one,  '  we  ought  to  go  to  prayer  first.'  But  they 
were  not  agreed  which  of  them  should  pray.1    At  last 

1  This  reminds  us  of  Cliarles  Lamb's  observations  in  the  Essays  of 
Elia.  "In  houses  where  the  grace  is  as  indispensable  as  the  napkin, 
who  has  not  seen  that  nuver  settled  question  arise,  as  to  who  shall  say 
it  ;  while  the  good  man  of  the  house  and  the  visitor  clergyman,  or 
some  other  guest  belike  of  next  authority  from  years  or  gravity,  shall 
bandy  about  the  ollice  between  them  as  a  matter  of  compliment,  each  of 
them  not  unwilling  to  shift  the  awkward  burden  of  an  equivocal  duty 
from  his  own  shoulders  ? 

"I  once  drank  tea  in  company  with  two  Methodist  divines  of 
different  persuasions,  whom  it  was  my  fortune  to  introduce  to  each  other 
for  the  first  time  that  evening.  Before  the  first  cup  was  handed  round, 
one  of  these  reverend  gentlemen  put  it  to  the  other  with  all  due 
solemnity,  whether  he  chose  to  say  anything.    It  seems  it  is  the  custom 


APOSTLESHIP 


7i 


one  of  them  stood  up  against  a  back  of  a  chair,  spoke 
a  few  words  and  concluded.  My  friend  and  I  were 
kneeling  together.  I  was  weary  with  forbearing,  and 
began  earnestly  to  pray  that  God  would  awaken  them, 
and  by  His  goodness  lead  them  to  repentance,  that  they 
might  know  the  things  that  belonged  to  their  ever- 
lasting peace.  They  turned  about  and  stared  at  me,  as 
if  I  had  been  speaking  Greek.  However,  they  told  us 
that  we  should  be  welcome  to  come  again  the  next 
Sunday  evening." 

To  retui^:  to  the  Church  of  England.  No  respect 
for  this  ancient  Church  could  possibly  survive  that 
reductio  ad  absurdum — the  Test  and  Corporation 
Acts.  These  Acts  may  have  been,  in  a  temporary 
sense,  politic,  but  archbishops  and  bishops  ought  to 
have  been  good  enough,  and  brave  enough,  to  have 
scorned  advantages.  They  should  have  shown  them- 
selves jealous  for  the  honour  of  the  sacred  rite.  That 
they  failed  to  do  so  is  eloquent  of  the  depth  to  which 
religion  in  England  had  fallen. 

Who  was  to  blame  ?  Most  candid  and  unbiassed 
judges  would  answer — the  clergy ;  but  the  Rev.  Henry 
Thomson,  M.A.,  author  of  a  Life  of  Hannah  More, 
whilst  admitting  the  disagreeable  nature  of  the  facts, 
has  come  to  another  conclusion.  The  true  criminals 
were,  he  thinks,  the  people !  For  a  choice  instance  of 
special  pleading  commend  us  to  the  following : — 

'The  rbolition  of  the  'daily  sacrifice'  of  prayer  and 

with  some  sectaries  to  put  up  a  short  prayer  before  this  meal  also.  His 
reverend  brother  did  not  at  first  apprehend  him,  but  upon  an  explana- 
tion, with  little  less  importance  he  made  answer,  that  it  was  not  a 
custom  known  in  his  church  ;  in  which  courteous  evasion  the  other 
acquiescing  for  good  manners'  sake,  or  in  compliance  with  a  weak 
brother,  the  supplementary  or  tea  grace  was  waived  altogether." 


72  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


thanksgiving  in  every  church  but  the  cathedral;  the 
non-observance  by  public  worship  of  those  public  days 
of  joy  and  humiliation  which  the  Church  had  conse- 
crated in  her  purest  times ;  the  contraction  of  the  Sab- 
bath services  into  one  only  in  some  churches,  and  their 
alternate  total  suspension  in  some  others;  the  distant  in- 
tervals at  which  the  life-giving  grace  of  the  Eucharist  is, 
in  most  churches,  afforded — all  those  things  are  much 
less  referable  to  the  inattention  of  the  clergyman  than  to 
the  non-attendance  of  the  people.  When  the  daily  sacri- 
fice was  wholly  deserted ;  when  the  Sabbath  morning 
service  in  the  country,  and  the  evening  in  towns,  was 
abandoned  also ;  when  he  bade  the  congregation  to  the 
Lord's  Table,  and  '  they  all  with  one  consent  began  to 
make  excuse ' ;  it  is  at  least  nothing  wonderful  that  he 
should  have  gradually  foregone  the  unmeaning  cere- 
mony of  presenting  himself  in  the  temple,  where  not 
even  '  two  or  three '  could  be  gathered  to  meet  him  in 
the  name  of  the  Saviour." 

This  is,  to  be  sure,  a  very  comfortable  and  charitable 
view  of  what  was  in  fact  gross  dereliction  of  duty. 
One  law  for  the  army,  another  for  the  Church — that 
is  the  essence  of  it.  Had  Zephaniah  or  some  equally 
stern,  old-fashioned  moralist  been  ordered  to  report  on 
the  Church  of  England  in  those  days  of  decadence,  he 
might  have  thundered,  "Her  prophets  are  light  and 
treacherous  persons — her  priests  have  polluted  the 
sanctuary — they  have  done  violence  to  the  law." 

Let  us,  however,  be  fair,  and  remember  that  religion 
has  at  all  times  a  more  or  less  precarious  hold  on  the 
fashionable  class.  To  people  of  that  sort,  society,  the 
world,  is  a  profession,  a  career.  They  know  no  other. 
It  is  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  their  existence — that  is, 


APOSTLESHIP 


7  3 


if  they  are  very  fashionable.  Religion,  however,  has 
usually  secured,  even  from  worldlings,  an  outward, 
a  nominal  homage.  This  homage,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  it  had  either  lost  or  was  fast  losing.  The 
abbe,  or  his  English  equivalent,  was  abroad,  and  though 
not  perhaps  irredeemably  bad,  was  no  particular  succour 
to  the  Church.  When  he  did  not  jest  on  religion — and 
in  his  merry  moods  such  jesting  came  not  amiss — he 
would  reprove  the  jester  in  a  tone  of  politest  raillery. 
The  classical  authority  on  the  subject  is,  of  course, 
Montesquieu.  The  author  of  the  Lettres  Persanes  and 
friend  of  Chesterfield,  who  visited  the  country  in  1732, 
was  shocked  at  the  lengths  to  which  matters  had  gone. 
"  There  is  no  such  thing  as  religion  in  England,"  wrote 
he;  "if  one  speaks  of  religion,  everybody  begins  to 
laugh." 

If  regard  was  shown  for  religion  anywhere,  by 
anybody,  it  was  shown  by  the  vestal  virgin,  when  she 
could  no  more  dissemble  her  antiquity,  and  in  the 
country.  Cowper,  who  exclaimed,  "  Hark,  my  soul,  it 
is  the  Lord ! "  declaimed  a  satire  entitled  "  Truth." 
These  are  some  of  the  lines : 

"Yon  ancient  prude,  whose  wither'd  features  show 
She  might  be  young  some  forty  years  ago, 
Her  elbows  pinion'd  close  upon  her  hips, 
Her  head  erect,  her  fan  upon  her  lips, 
Her  eyebrows  arch'd,  her  eyes  both  gone  astray 
To  watch  yon  amorous  couple  in  their  play, 
With  bony  and  unkerchief'd  neck  defies 
The  rude  inclemency  of  wintry  skies, 
And  sails  with  lappet  head  and  mincing  airs, 
Duly,  at  clink  of  bell,  to  morning  pray'rs. 

She  half  an  angel  in  her  own  account, 
Doubts  not  hereafter  with  the  saints  to  mount, 


74  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Though  not  a  grace  appears,  on  strictest  search, 

But  that  she  fasts,  and  item  goes  to  church. 

Conscious  of  age,  she  recollects  her  youth, 

And  tells,  not  always  with  an  eye  to  truth, 

Who  spann'd  her  waist,  and  who,  where'er  he  came, 

Scrawl'd  upon  glass  Miss  Bridget's  lovely  name; 

Who  stole  her  slipper,  fill'd  it  with  tokay, 

And  drank  the  little  bumper  ev'ry  day. 

Of  temper  as  envenom'd  as  an  asp ; 

Censorious,  and  her  ev'ry  word  a  wasp  ; 

In  faithful  memory  she  records  the  crimes 

Or  real  or  fictitious,  of  the  times ; 

Laughs  at  the  reputations  she  has  torn, 

And  holds  them  dangling,  at  arm's  length,  in  scorn." 

This  Gorgon  is  eternal, — since  the  world  began  there 
have  always  been  Miss  Bridgets, — but  she  is  typical  of 
the  eighteenth  century  as  a  residuum,  as  a  last  refuge 
of  religion  in  a  land  whence,  according  to  Montesquieu, 
white-winged  Faith  had  altogether  flown.  Hannah 
More,  whose  ingenious  biographer  has  been  already 
cited,  intimates  that  religion,  even  the  most  super- 
ficial, was  subject  to  geographical  limitations.  Burke 
had  said  that  "  the  humanity  of  Britain  is  a  humanity 
of  points  and  parallels."  "Coelebs"  discovered  that 
the  Christianity  of  Britain  was  a  Christianity  of 
longitudes  and  latitudes. 

"I  was  concerned  to  remark  that  two  or  three 
gentlemen  whom  I  had  observed  to  be  very  regular 
in  their  attendance  on  public  worship  in  the  country, 
seldom  went  to  church  in  London ;  in  the  afternoon 
never.  '  Religion,'  they  said,  by  way  of  apology,  '  was 
entirely  a  thing  of  example.  It  was  of  great  political 
importance.  Society  was  held  together  by  the  re- 
straints it  imposed  on  the  lower  orders.  When  they 
were  in  the  country,  it  was  highly  proper  that  their 


APOSTLESHIP 


75 


tenants  and  workmen  should  have  the  benefit  of  their 
example,  but  in  London  the  case  was  different.  Where 
there  were  so  many  churches,  no  one  knew  whether 
you  went  or  not,  and  where  no  scandal  was  given,  no 
harm  was  done.' " 

Wesley  was  so  constituted  that  he  could  not  away 
with  merely  conventional  religion.  He  called  persons 
who  professed  Christianity,  whilst  ignoring  its  pre- 
cepts, "  devil-Christians."  He  was  indebted  for  this 
description  to  the  American  Indians,  whose  morals 
were  of  a  superior  order.  The  woods,  it  seems,  of  the 
New  World  echoed  with  such  cries  as — "Christian 
much  drunk  ! "  "  Christian  beat  men  ! "  "  Christian  tell 
lies  ! "  "  Devil  Christian  !  "  "  Me  no  Christian  ! "  Wesley's 
critics  returned  the  compliment.  "Look  at  their 
countenances,  as  they  go  to  the  House  of  Prayer. 
They  appear  to  be  going  to  serve,  not  God,  but  the 
devil.  No  joy,  no  pleasing  hopes,  painted  there ;  but 
dejected,  clouded,  dark,  and  melancholy,  they  are 
unlike  the  worshippers  of  the  Father  of  Mankind, 
a  God  of  infinite  Goodness,  the  God  of  all  Comfort  and 
Consolation." 

There  was  probably  much  truth  in  this  accusation 
of  seriousness.  Persons  labouring  under  conviction  of 
sin  could  not  be  expected  to  look  gay,  and  frequent 
attendance  at  evangelistic  services  was  bound  to  pro- 
duce a  grave,  a  thoughtful,  and  even  a  rigid  mien. 
Only  reflect,  however,  what  it  must  have  been  to  be 
responsible  as  citizens,  as  members  of  the  great  human 
brotherhood,  as  Christians  for  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  was  a  brutal  age.  Hogarth,  in  his  Rake's  Progress, 
his  Harlot's  Progress,  and  his  Gin  Lane  has  preserved 
for  us  some  of  its  more  hateful  features,  and  the  very 


76  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


success  of  the  caricaturist  is  full  of  meaning.  The 
conditions  of  the  time  lent  him  every  assistance.1 
Then  the  cheapness  of  human  life,  the  bloody  penal 
code,  the  infernal  prison  system,  with  its  gaol  fevers 
sapping  the  health,  not  only  of  the  inmates,  but  of  the 
whole  community — how  is  it  possible  to  apologise  for 
such  horrors  ?  Or  take  the  army.  To  order  a  wretch 
a  thousand  lashes  was  deemed  in  no  way  inconsistent 
with  either  religion  or  humanity.  Of  course,  the  dis- 
cipline was  inflicted  in  instalments,  thus  adding  to 
the  agonies  of  the  hour  the  terrors  of  instructed 
anticipation. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  supplement  this  account, 
already  too  long,  by  many  more  pages,  but  there  is  no 
need.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  Wesley's  tactics, 
and  making  every  allowance  for  satire  and  caricature, 
it  is  clear  that  a  reformation  was  demanded,  and  could 

1  It  is  a  curious  and  interesting  point  how  far  Hogarth's  delineations 
aided  the  reformers  of  the  time.  The  natural  tendency  of  his  labours 
as  an  artist  was  to  make  men  reflect,  and  thus  they  must  have  helped, 
it  is  impossible  to  say  in  what  degree,  Wesley's  missionary  labours. 
The  following  extract,  however,  from  Smith's  Life  of  Nollelcens  seems 
to  show  that  the  contribution  was  undesigned.  "Gre;>t  as  Hogarth 
was  in  his  display  of  every  variety  of  character,  I  should  never  think  of 
exhibiting  a  portfolio  of  his  prints  to  the  youthful  inquirer  ;  nor  can  I 
agree  that  the  man  who  was  so  accustomed  to  visit,  so  fond  of  delineat- 
ing, and  who  gave  up  so  much  of  his  time  to  the  vices  of  the  most 
abandoned  classes,  was  in  truth  a  'moral  teacher  of  mankind.'  My 
father  knew  Hogarth  well,  and  I  have  often  heard  him  declare  that  he 
revelled  in  the  company  of  the  drunken  and  profligate:  Churchill, 
Wilkes,  Hayman,  etc.,  were  among  his  constant  companions.  Dr.  John 
Hoadly,  though  in  my  opinion  it  reflected  no  credit  on  him,  delighted 
in  his  company  ;  but  he  did  not  approve  of  all  the  prints  produced  by 
him,  particularly  that  of  the  First  State  of  Enthusiasm  Displayed,  which, 
had  Mr.  Garrick  or  Dr.  Johnson  seen,  they  could  never  for  a  moment 
have  entertained  their  high  esteem  of  so  irreligious  a  character." 


APOSTLESHIP 


77 


be  achieved  only  by  extraordinary  methods.  To  apply 
such  methods  there  must  be  an  extraordinary  man, 
and  certainly  Wesley  was  that.  Southey  had  studied 
that  marvellous  character,  had  marked  its  virtues,  had 
noted  its  defects,  and  what  was  his  conclusion?  He 
wrote  to  Wilberforce,  "I  consider  him  as  the  most 
influential  mind  of  the  last  century ;  the  man  who 
will  have  produced  the  greatest  effects  centuries  or, 
perhaps,  millenniums  hence,  if  the  present  race  of  men 
.should  continue  so  long."  If  there  is  any  truth  in 
those  words,  it  is  no  pointless  compliment  to  have 
styled  Wesley,  as  was  done  earlier,  the  Apostle  of 
England. 

It  has  been  said  that  Wesley,  like  all  great  men, 
possessed  moral  fibre.  Just  as  he  persisted  in  remain- 
ing at  Oxford  despite  the  wishes  of  his  family,  just  as 
he  sailed  for  Georgia  despite  the  ridicule  of  the  wise 
man,  so  now  he  became  an  apostle  notwithstanding 
the  jokes  of  his  Uncle  Matthew.  This  wonderful 
uncle — a  wealthy  and  generous  Dissenting  physician 
practising  in  London — had  a  trick  of  turning  up  at 
critical  junctures  in  the  lives  of  his  nephews  and 
nieces,  usually  as  a  good  genie  and  moderator  of 
parental  severity.  In  conversation  he  was  inclined  to 
be  cynical.  Once,  when  Charles  Wesley  was  dining  with 
him,  he  "  bestowed  abundance  of  wit "  on  John  Wesley's 
"  apostolical  project."  He  observed  that  when  the 
French  found  "any  remarkably  dull  fellow  among 
them,  they  sent  him  to  convert  the  Indians."  Charles 
disliked  this  vein,  and  replied, 

"To  distant  lands  the  apostles  need  not  roam, 
Darkness,  alas !  and  heathens  are  at  home." 
This  answer  silenced  Mr.  Matthew,  who  thereupon 


78  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


refrained  from  vexing  his  nephew  by  further  allu- 
sions to  his  "  brother's  apostleship." 

When  Meissonier  was  painting  a  snowy  road  in 
his  picture  of  Napoleon  in  1814  he  used  salt  for 
model.  The  Russian  artist  Vassili  Verestchagin  won- 
dered at  this  procedure,  and,  chatting  on  the  subject, 
remarked,  "  If  I  had  been  you,  I  should  have  gone  to 
Russia,  and  painted  a  study  from  nature."  "  Yes,  but," 
Meissonier  replied,  "nous  autres  Parisiens  do  not 
move  about  so  easily."  Wesley  was  not  like  Meissonier. 
Although  locomotion  of  every  kind  was  infinitely 
harder  than  it  became  after  the  introduction  of  steam 
power,  he  did  not  object  to  a  matter  of  a  few  hundred 
or  a  few  thousand  miles,  provided  that  he  had  satisfied 
himself  as  to  the  necessity  or  propriety  of  the  journey. 
He  wished  to  matriculate  for  his  apostleship,  and  he 
could  matriculate  nowhere  but  in  Germany.  Even 
before  quitting  Georgia,  he  had  had  thoughts  of  visit- 
ing the  well  of  evangelical  truth.  Now,  without  more 
ado,  he  went. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  emigration  of  the 
United  Brethren  from  Moravia  and  Bohemia  under 
stress  of  persecution.  One  party,  led  by  Christian 
David,  sought  and  obtained  leave  from  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf  to  settle  in  Saxony  The  young  Pietist,  who  had 
been  educated  by  Professor  Franke  at  Halle,  was  busy 
wooing  Countess  Erdmuth  Dorothea  Reuss.  However, 
his  major-domo  was  a  capable  as  well  as  pious  func- 
tionary, and  chose  a  site  near  Hutberg,  on  the  high 
road  to  Zittau.  Probably  the  name  had  something ,to 
do  with  the  choice — there  was  not  much  to  recommend 
it — for  the  major-domo,  in  his  report,  waxed  thus 
witty :  "  May  God  bless  the  work  according  to  His 


APOSTLESHIP 


79 


loving-kindness,  and  grant  that  your  Excellency  may 
build  a  city  on  Watch  Hill  (Hutberg),  which  may  not 
only  stand  under  the  Lord's  watchfulness,  but  where 
all  the  inhabitants  may  stand  on  the  watch  of  the  Lord 
(Herm  Hut)."  So  they  called  the  name  of  that  town 
Hcrrnhut.  The  colony  was  the  goal  of  Wesley's  pil- 
grimage. 

It  was  now  1738,  and  Count  Zinzendorf,  no  longer 
impeded  by  love  and  courtship,  was  easily  accessible. 
Zinzendorf  was  an  eighteenth-century  Tolstoi  with- 
out, apparently,  any  of  Tolstoi's  genius.  He  had 
abdicated  his  rank,  and  was  a  great  advocate  of 
simplicity.  He  considered  that  Wesley  —  always  a 
gentleman  —  had  something  to  learn  in  this  respect. 
So  he  set  him  to  dig  in  his  shirt-sleeves.  When 
Wesley  was  in  a  high  state  of  perspiration,  Zinzen- 
dorf entered  the  garden,  told  him  that  the  carriage 
was  waiting,  and,  having  announced  that  he  was  about 
to  call  on  a  certain  noble  of  the  neighbourhood,  com- 
manded his  guest  to  accompany  him.  The  neophyte 
was  not  unwilling,  but  wanted  to  wash  his  hands  and 
put  on  his  coat.  The  Count,  however,  forbade.  He 
was  to  go  just  as  he  was.  "  You  must  be  simple 
brother."  Wesley  was  more  than  simple— he  obeyed. 
Southey  rejects  this  story  on  the  ground  that  Zinzen- 
dorf had  been  in  England,  and  knew  better ;  but  there 
is  not  much  in  that  argument.  The  Count  was  evi- 
dently eccentric.  As  regards  Wesley  at  least — the 
hero  of  the  Hopkey  adventure — the  story  has  much 
probability. 

In  America  Wesley,  in  accordance  with  Anglican 
use  and  the  dictates  of  his  unenlightened  conscience, 
had  refused  a  Moravian  the  privilege  of  Holy  Com- 


8o  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


munion.  The  tables  were  now  turned.  The  Moravians 
allowed  his  companion-in-travel,  Mr.  Ingham,  to  com- 
municate, but  not  Wesley.  The  motive,  however,  was 
not  revenge.  "  The  congregation  saw  him  to  be  a 
homo  perturbatus,  and  that  his  head  had  gained  an 
ascendency  over  his  heart."  Moreover,  "  they  were 
desirous  not  to  interfere  with  his  plan  of  effecting  good 
as  a  clergyman  of  the  English  Church." 

These  events  occurred  before  Wesley's  arrival  at 
Herrnhut.  He  reached  that  primitive  settlement  on 
August  1,  and  spent  a  fortnight  there.  During  most 
of  the  time  he  was  occupied  in  listening  to  the  exposi- 
tions of  Christian  David  and  other  eminent  professors 
of  evangelical  doctrine.  David  was  a  remarkable  man. 
Like  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  he  was  a  carpenter, 
and,  in  the  intervals  of  his  missionary  labours,  worked 
at  his  trade.  The  Jesuits  of  Moravia  called  him  the 
"  bush-preacher,"  which  was  better  than  if  they  had 
called  him  a  "  bush-ranger."  However,  he  was  some- 
thing of  a  ranger.  He  had  travelled  in  Holland,  in 
England,  in  Denmark,  and  even  in  Greenland.  Me- 
chanic as  he  was,  he  was  not  ashamed  to  stand  before 
princes  and  governors,  and  in  Denmark  he  had  preached 
before  the  court.  This  humble  teacher  became  Wesley's 
new  oracle.  On  the  3rd  of  August  he  writes :  "  This 
evening  Christian  David  came  hither.  O  may  God 
make  him  a  messenger  of  glad  tidings  ! " 

This,  however,  was  not  precisely  the  design  of  Pro- 
vidence. The  Moravians  had  been  right  in  describing 
their  visitor  as  a  homo  perturbatus,  and  nothing  that  he 
heard  from  David,  or  Linner,  or  Nitschmann,  or  Dober, 
or  Neusser,  or  Schneider  tended  to  make  him  anything 
else.     Wesley's  chief  desideratum  was  assurance  of 


APOSTLESHIP 


8 1 


pardon,  and  all  these  authorities  agreed  in  stating  that, 
according  to  their  experience,  years  must  elapse  before 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit  banished  doubt  and  fear. 
This  was  bad  news  for  Wesley,  who  had  come  to  Ger- 
many in  the  hope  of  receiving  "  glad  tidings "  on  this 
particular  topic.  Otherwise  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed 
his  travels.  His  spiritual  perplexities  had  no  effect  on 
his  general  acumen  and  faculty  of  observation.  In- 
deed, as  we  have  seen,  it  was  partly  on  this  pretext 
that  the  Moravians  excluded  him  from  Communion. 
At  Dresden  he  inspected,  at  somebody's  desire,  the 
great  bridge,  the  large  brass  crucifix,  and  the  equestrian 
statue  of  the  late  King  Augustus ;  but  he  deems  it 
necessary  to  apologise  by  ejaculating,  "Alas!  where 
will  all  these  things  appear  when  the  earth  and  the 
works  thereof  shall  be  burned  up  ? " 


6 


CHAPTER  IV 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 

Glad  Tidings— Love-Feasts— Suggestions  of  the  Enemy — Real 
Methodist  Love — George  Whitefield — Girl's  Clothes — Glam- 
our of  the  Stage — Whitefield  as  Servitor — Conversion — 
Ordination  —  At  Dummer  —  Popularity  —  Embarkation  for 
America — Bishop  Lavington — Cant — Methodist  "  Brides  " — 
Elisabeth  Wallbridge — Sydney  Smith  on  Methodism — The 
Methodist  "  Confessional." 

At  the  outset  of  his  manifesto — An  Earnest  Appeal  to 
Men  of  Reason  and  Religion — Wesley  lays  down  the 
cardinal  principle  of  Christianity  as  a  living  and 
active  force. 

"  We  see  (and  who  does  not  ?)  the  numberless  follies 
and  miseries  of  our  fellow-creatures.  We  see,  on  every 
side,  either  men  of  no  religion  at  all,  or  men  of  a 
lifeless  formal  religion.  We  are  grieved  at  the  sight, 
and  should  greatly  rejoice  if  by  any  means  we  might 
convince  some  that  there  is  a  better  religion  to  be 
attained — a  religion  worthy  of  the  God  who  gave  it. 
And  this  we  conceive  to  be  no  other  than  love;  the 
love  of  God  and  all  mankind ;  the  loving  God  with  all 
our  heart,  and  soul,  and  strength,  as  having  first  loved 
us,  as  the  fountain  of  all  the  good  we  have  received, 
and  of  all  we  ever  hope  to  enjoy ;  and  the  loving  every 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


83 


soul  which  God  hath  made,  every  man  on  earth,  as 
our  own  soul. 

"  This  love  we  believe  to  be  the  medicine  of  life,  the 
never-failing  remedy  for  all  the  evils  of  a  disordered 
world,  for  all  the  miseries  and  vices  of  men.  Wherever 
this  is,  there  are  virtue  and  happiness  going  hand  in 
hand.  There  is  humbleness  of  mind,  gentleness,  long- 
suffering,  the  whole  image  of  God;  and  at  the  same 
time  a  peace  that  passeth  all  understanding,  and  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

"  Eternal  sunshine  of  the  spotless  mind  ; 
Each  prayer  accepted,  and  each  wisli  resign'd  ; 
Desires  composed,  affections  ever  even, 
Tears  that  delight,  and  sighs  that  waft  to  heaven." 

These  eloquent  words  show  enthusiasm  at  its  best, 
and  the  beautiful  grace  of  charity,  "  the  very  bond  of 
peace  and  of  all  virtue,"  is  worthy  of  such  enthusiasm. 
Than  this  grace  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine  a  better 
corrective  of  the  spirit  of  competition  rampant  in  all 
the  more  vigorous  races,  and  tending  to  crush  out 
noble  ideals  in  the  blind  struggle  for  wealth  and 
luxury. 

In  Methodist  polity  love  or  charity  had  as  its  organ  the 
love-feast  based  on  the  agape  of  the  primitive  Church, 
and  this,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  of  Wesley's 
institutions,  gave  occasion  to  the  enemy  to  blaspheme. 
A  gentleman  whose  youth  was  spent  on  the  uplands 
where  Somerset  merges  into  Devon,  well  remembers 
the  suspicion  with  which  love-feasts  were  regarded  by 
the  country-folk.  The  name  was  full  of  suggestion, 
and  it  seemed  incredible  that  an  assembly  of  both 
sexes,  brought  together  on  this  pretext,  should  rest 


84  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


content  with  quaffing  a  loving-cup,  eating  plain  fare, 
and  narrating  the  circumstances  of  their  conversion. 

That  disinterested  regard — and  this  was  all  that 
Wesley  intended  by  love  in  relation  to  his  fellow- 
creatures — sometimes  rotted  and  decayed  into  sinister 
passion,  was  an  article  of  faith  with  many  opponents 
of  Methodism.  Whether  they  really  believed  that 
Methodists  were  specially  prone  to  the  indulgence  of 
amorous  inclinations  or  made  a  show  of  believing  it 
as  a  weapon  of  controversy,  it  is  a  fact  that  this  un- 
pleasant accusation  is  constantly  preferred,  and  that 
in  a  variety  of  grotesque  forms.1  Of  all  religious 
societies,  it  was  said,  the  Methodists  were  exposed  to 
the  greatest  temptations.  The  intercourse  between 
the  sexes  was  very  frequent,  very  familiar,  often  very 
private.  They  were  together  at  all  hours  of  the  day 
and  night  for  the  purpose  of  prayer  and  meditation. 
They  travelled  together  to  distant  places  under  the 
shelter  of  religion.  Their  meetings  were  protracted 
to  the  latest  hours  of  the  night ;  and  friendship  would 
not  suffer  them  to  expose  helpless  females  without 
some  male  escort.  No  reflection  was  meant  on  the 
delicacy  of  these  proceedings,  but  the  Methodists  were 
more  than  human,  if  all  of  them  could  resist  such 
opportunities. 

Such  criticisms  cannot  be  admitted  for  an  instant. 
Admit  them,  and  you  effectually  destroy  the  pleasures 
of  social  intercourse.  In  the  words  of  the  genial 
Roman  poet : 

1  The  Rev.  Dr.  Free  wrote  :  "In  the  remote  countries  of  England,  I 
have  seen  a  whole  troop  of  these  divines  on  horseback,  travelling  with 
each  a  sister  behind  him."    "0  Sir,  0  Sir,"  replied  Wesley, 
"'What  should  be  great  you  turn  to  farce.'" 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


85 


"Hie  nigra  succus  loligiuis ;  hsec  est 
Aerugo  mera." 1 

And  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  anonymous  critic, 
instead  of  ladling  out  abominable  insinuations,  did  not 
seek  to  emulate  the  laudable  resolution : 

"Quod  vitium  procul  afore  chartis, 
Atque  animo  prius,  ut  si  quid  proiuittere  de  me 
Possum  aliud  vere,  promitto."2 

It  is  safe  to  allege  that  the  average  man  of  the 
world  will  require  better  "reasonings"  than  these 
before  he  will  believe  that  young  Methodists,  in- 
doctrinated with  notions  of  hell  and  eternal  retribution, 
were  less  fortified  against  sins  of  the  flesh  than  the 
gay  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  danced  away  the  night 
in  Grosvenor  Square  and  in  many  a  provincial  assembly- 
room. 

George  Eliot  could  speak  of  Methodism  at  first  hand. 
The  time  of  her  novel  Adam  Bede  is  not  much  later 
than  that  of  A  Review  of  the  Policy,  Doctrines,  and 
Morals  of  the  Methodists,  and  the  noble  description  it 
contains  for  the  love  of  the  young  carpenter  for  Dinah 
is  the  best  reply  to  the  malignant  aspersions  of 
anonymous  assailants.  "  He  was  but  three-and-twenty, 
and  had  only  just  learnt  what  it  is  to  love — to  love 
with  that  adoration  which  a  young  man  gives  to  a 
woman  whom  he  feels  to  be  greater  and  better  than 
himself.  Love  of  this  sort  is  hardly  distinguishable 
from  religious  feeling.  What  deep  and  worthy  love 
is  so  ?  whether  of  woman  or  child,  or  art  or  music 

1  This  is  the  juice  of  the  black  cuttle-fish  ;  this  is  pure  verdigris. 
5  Which  vice  I  promise  shall  be  far  from  my  sheets,  and  from  my 
mind  before,  if,  that  is,  I  can  promise  aught  truly  concerning  myself. 


86  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Our  caresses,  our  tender  words,  our  still  raptures  under 
the  influence  of  autumn  sunsets,  or  pillared  vistas,  or 
calm  majestic  statues,  or  Beethoven  Symphonies,  all 
bring  with  them  the  consciousness  that  they  are  mere 
waves  and  ripples  in  an  unfathomable  ocean  of  love 
and  beauty ;  our  emotion  in  its  keenest  moment  passes 
from  expression  into  silence,  our  love  at  its  highest 
flood  rushes  beyond  its  object,  and  loses  itself  in  the 
sense  of  divine  mystery. 

"  And  this  blessed  gift  of  venerating  love  has  been 
given  to  too  many  humble  craftsmen  since  the  world 
began,  for  us  to  feel  any  surprise  that  it  should  have 
existed  in  the  soul  of  a  Methodist  carpenter  half  a 
century  ago,  while  there  was  yet  a  lingering  after- 
glow from  the  time  when  Wesley  and  his  fellow- 
labourer  fed  on  the  hips  and  haws  of  Cornwall,  after 
exhausting  limbs  and  lungs  in  carrying  a  divine 
message  to  the  poor." 

Nature,  it  has  been  clearly  demonstrated,  never 
intended  Wesley  for  a  lover,  but  the  opposite  is  true 
of  his  "fellow-labourer."  George  Whitefield,  more 
passionate,  less  severe  than  Wesley,  has  been  called 
the  Luther  of  the  movement  of  which  Wesley  was  the 
Calvin.  He  was,  in  the  truest  sense,  a  jilius  terrce ; 
there  was  no  element  of  distinction  in  his  early  sur- 
roundings.1 Indeed,  he  was  born,  in  1714,  at  the  Bell 
Inn  in  the  city  of  Gloucester ;  and  at  a  time  when  the 
future  lacked  outline,  perspective,  and  even  direction, 
learnt  to  keep  inn  himself.  In  a  very  honest  bit  of 
autobiography  he  informs  us  that  he  "  put  on  his  blue 
apron  and  his  snuft'ers" — what  artistic  habiliment  is 

1  Whitefield,  however,  was  of  respectable  descent.  The  family  had 
gone  down  in  the  world. 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


87 


intended  by  "  snuffers,"  can  only  be  conjectured ; 
possibly,  as  Southey  suggests,  it  is  a  misprint  for 
another  low-English  term  scoggers,  signifying  "  sleeves  " 
— "  washed  mops,  cleaned  rooms,  and  became  a  pro- 
fessed and  common  drawer." 

Washing  mops  and  cleaning  rooms  were  not  actions 
of  which  Whitefield  felt  that  he  had  cause  to  be 
ashamed,  and  herein  he  is  supported  by  the  shadow  of 
a  great  name. 

"Who  sweeps  a  room  as  to  the  Lord, 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine." 

There  was,  however,  one  boyish  freak,  the  remembrance 
of  which,  he  says,  had  often  covered  him  with  con- 
fusion of  face,  and,  though  there  was  not  then,  perhaps, 
much  danger  of  a  relapse,  he  hoped  it  would  do  so  even  to 
the  end  of  his  life.  Finding  his  boys  wild  about  acting, 
the  master  of  the  grammar-school  had  been  gracious 
enough  to  write  a  play.  This  play  was  performed 
before  the  corporation,  and  Whitefield,  dressed  in  girl's 
clothes,  took  the  part  of  a  woman.  Hence  the  con- 
fusion of  face.  Betterton  would  have  liked  White- 
field  for  that.  Until  Davenant  and  he  introduced  the 
Continental  fashion,  the  English  practice  had  always 
been  to  assign  the  female  parts  to  boys,  who  were,  in 
this  way,  early  dispossessed  of  their  manhood.  The 
case  of  their  successors,  however,  left  much  to  be 
desired.  Their  natural  modesty  was  ignored,  and  they 
were  thrust  into  parts  to  clasp  and  be  clasped,  to  kiss 
and  be  kissed,  sometimes  by  three  or  four  different  men. 

A  boy  of  ingenuous  face  and  ingenuous  modesty, 
Whitefield  nevertheless  felt,  and  felt  strongly,  the 
perennial  attractions  of  the  stage.    For  him,  as  for  so 


88  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


many,  it  was  poetry  in  action.  His  digression  into 
girl's  clothes,  and  the  penitential  smart  that  followed, 
by  no  means  cured  him  of  the  malady.  Even  the 
counter-attractions  of  religion  were  for  a  time  in- 
effectual. When  he  was  sixteen,  he  prayed  many 
times  a  day,  received  the  sacrament  every  Sunday, 
and  during  Lent  almost  destroyed  himself  with  his 
rigorous  fasting,  but  still  he  hankered.  "I  had  a 
mind  to  be  upon  the  stage,  but  then  I  had  a  qualm  of 
conscience.  I  used  to  ask  people,  '  Pray,  can  I  be  a 
player,  and  yet  go  to  the  sacrament,  and  be  a  Chris- 
tian ? '  '  Oh,'  said  they,  '  such  a  one,  who  is  a  player, 
goes  to  the  sacrament,  though,  according  to  the  law  of 
the  land,  no  player  should  receive  the  sacrament, 
unless  they  repent.  This  was  Archbishop  Tillotson's 
doctrine.'  '  Well  then,  if  that  be  the  case,'  said  I,  '  I 
will  be  a  player.'  And  I  thought  to  act  my  part  for 
the  devil,  as  well  as  anybody ;  but,  blessed  be  God,  He 
stopped  me  in  my  journey." 

Instead  of  going  on  the  stage,  Whitefield  went  back 
to  school,  and,  at  eighteen,  obtained  a  servitorship  at 
Oxford.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  such  institutions  as 
servitorships  have  had  their  day,  and  ceased  to  be,  but, 
whilst  they  existed,  they  seem  to  have  suited  some 
students,  of  whom  Whitefield  was  one.  As  we  have 
seen,  he  was  used  to  washing  mops  and  cleaning  rooms, 
and  his  services  were  therefore  preferred  to  those  of 
awkward  and  shamefaced  men,  who  thought  them- 
selves born  for  higher  uses. 

Whitefield  had  heard  of  the  Methodists  before  he 
went  to  Oxford,  but,  though  a  despised  set,  they  were 
Students  and  Fellows — men  of  birth  and  breeding.  The 
humble  servitor,  therefore,  was  constrained  to  keep  his 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


89 


distance.  But,  all  the  while,  he  felt  intense  sympathy 
with  them,  and  rejoiced  when  an  opportunity  occurred 
of  making  their  acquaintance.  A  pauper  had  sought 
to  flee  this  present  evil  world  by  suicide ;  and  White- 
field  despatched  a  messenger  to  Charles  Wesley  as  a 
tit  and  proper  person  to  administer  reproof  and  con- 
solation. The  servitor  strictly  charged  the  woman  not 
to  reveal  his  name,  but  the  woman  did.  It  happened 
that  the  sender  was  known  to  Charles  Wesley  by 
repute,  and,  notwithstanding  the  awkward  disparity 
of  rank,  the  student  of  Christ  Church  thought  he 
might  safely  ask  him  to  breakfast.  He  went,  and 
Wesley  put  into  his  hands  a  book  called  The  Life  of 
God  in  the  Soul  of  Man,  the  perusal  of  which  con- 
vinced Whitefield  that  he  must  be  born  again  or 
damned. 

Naturally,  the  discovery  of  the  choice  threw  the 
impressionable  young  man  into  a  state  of  extreme 
terror  and  anguish.  His  sensations  are  hardly  to  be 
imagined.  He  suffered  from  a  feeling  of  constriction, 
"  like  a  man  locked  up  in  iron  armour,"  or,  perhaps  one 
may  suggest,  in  the  folds  of  "that  old  serpent,  the 
devil." 1  For  whole  days  and  weeks  he  lay  prostrate 
on  the  ground  in  silent  or  audible  prayer.  That  his 
outer  man  might  exhibit  some  conformity  to  his  inner, 
he  left  off  powdering  his  hair,  wore  woollen  gloves, 
and  went  about  in  a  patched  gown  and  dirty  shoes. 
His  patrons  did  not  approve  of  these  voluntary  humilia- 
tions, and  he  lost  their  support. 

Even  this  did  not  suffice.  To  the  external  defacement 
of  the  "  ass,"  as  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  contemptuously 
designates  the  body,  Whitefield  must  add  ruinous  tests 
1  Rev.  xx.  2. 


9Q  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


of  constitutional  strength.  The  pious  Israelites — 
Christians  before  Christ — "  wandered  about  in  sheep- 
skins and  goat-skins."  "  Destitute,  afflicted,  tormented," 
they  sojourned  "  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  and  in 
dens  and  caves  of  the  earth."  But  these  evils  they  could 
not  help,  or,  if  they  could,  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  their 
religion. 

Whitefield  was  differently  situated.  He  was  under 
no  clear  necessity,  whether  moral  or  physical,  to  copy 
their  self  -  denial,  at  any  rate  their  special  modes. 
There  was  properly  no  reason  why  he  should  kneel, 
shivering,  under  the  trees  in  Christ  Church  meadow ; 
why  he  should  suffer  his  hands  to  blacken  with  the 
cold ;  why  he  should  starve  for  forty  days  on  coarse 
bread  and  sage  tea  without  sugar.  No  Methodist  in 
these  times  would  affirm  such  things  to  be  necessary 
or  advantageous,  and  a  review  of  the  circumstances 
may  well  excuse  the  suspicion  that  Whitefield,  like 
Simeon  Stylites,  was  determined  to  shorten  his  life 
by  disease.  If  that  was  his  object,  he  was  successful. 
Anyhow,  he  brought  on  a  "fit  of  sickness,"  which 
lasted  seven  weeks,  and  for  which  he  trusted  he  should 
be  grateful  through  the  endless  ages  of  eternity. 

When  the  seventh  week  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
Whitefield  found  peace.  Supposing  the  fit  of  sickness 
to  have  been  really  a  condition  of  redemption,  the 
poor  servitor  was  right  in  deeming  the  price  of  that 
peace  and  that  redemption  extremely  cheap.  He  found, 
however,  not  only  peace,  but — what  Wesley  could  not 
find,  or  could  find  only  after  a  long  time — joy  and 
assurance.  When  Whitefield  looked  back  to  that  day, 
the  rapturous  feelings  returned  and  burst  forth  in  a 
passion  of  eloquence.    "  But  oh !  with  what  joy,  joy 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


9' 


unspeakable,  even  joy  that  was  full  of  and  big  with 
glory,  was  my  soul  filled,  when  the  weight  of  sin  went 
off,  and  an  abiding  sense  of  the  pardoning  love  of  God, 
and  a  full  assurance  of  faith,  broke  in  upon  my  dis- 
consolate soul !  Surely  it  was  the  day  of  my  espousals 
— a  day  to  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance."  At 
this  period  neither  John  nor  Charles  Wesley  knew 
anything  of  conversion.  The  pupil  had  outstripped 
his  masters. 

When  the  "  great  twin  brethren  " — spiritually  twin 
— quitted  England  for  the  wilds  of  Georgia,  their 
offspring,  the  Holy  Club — never  a  very  health}'  bant- 
ling— was  in  danger  of  collapse.  It  wanted  a  "  curator," 
and  though  Whitefield  was  obviously  qualified  for  the 
post,  it  is  possible  that  his  modesty  and  humility 
might  have  hindered  his  coming  forward,  if  Sir 
James  Philips,  of  London,  had  not  taken  the  matter 
vigorously  in  hand.  Whitefield  was  deserving,  but 
he  was  poor.  He  was  not  likely  to  win  a  fellowship, 
and  the  problem  was  how  to  maintain  him  in  his 
"  curatorship."  This  problem  was  solved  by  the  gen- 
erosity of  Sir  John  Philips,  who  gave  him  a  pension  of 
twenty  pounds  a  year,  to  be  increased  to  thirty,  if  he 
would  stay  at  Oxford. 

The  next  event  of  importance  was  his  ordination. 
In  order  that  his  health  might  be  more  firmly  estab- 
lished, Whitefield  was  recommended  to  seek  his  native 
air.  At  Gloucester  he  visited  the  poor,  and  prayed 
with  the  prisoners,  and  in  these  and  other  ways  drew 
the  regards  of  the  bishop,  Dr.  Benson.  Whitefield  was 
still  only  twenty-one,  but  the  bishop,  in  a  chat  after 
evening  service,  informed  him  that,  though  he  made 
it  a  rule  not  to  receive  candidates  under  the  age  of 


92  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


twenty-three,  he  should  esteem  it  his  duty  to  admit 
him  to  orders,  whenever  he  thought  fit  to  apply  for 
them.  Accordingly,  Whitefield  was  ordained.  With 
reference  to  the  "  laying  on  of  hands,"  Whitefield  uses 
some  remarkable  expressions.  He  says,  "  I  can  call 
heaven  and  earth  to  witness  that,  when  the  bishop 
laid  his  hand  upon  me,  I  gave  myself  up  to  be  a 
martyr  for  Him  who  hung  upon  the  cross  for  me." 
The  martyrs  of  Methodism — some  of  them,  at  least — 
will  receive  attention  in  the  following  chapter.  They 
were  true  martyrs,  and  died  for  the  faith.  The 
Wesleys  and  Whitefield — in  a  larger  than  the  ecclesi- 
astical sense — might  also  have  claimed  to  be  martyrs. 
They,  it  is  true,  were  neither  burnt  nor  beheaded,  but 
they  boldly  proclaimed  unpalatable  doctrines,  and 
challenged — not  once  nor  twice,  but  all  their  lives 
long — the  fury  of  the  populace.  On  due  considera- 
tion, it  seems  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  that  the 
three  heroes  died  at  last  in  their  beds. 

Whitefield's  first  essays  presaged  not  persecution, 
but  popularity.  His  maiden  sermon  was  preached  in 
the  church  of  St.  Mary  de  Crypt,  where  he  had  been 
baptized,  and  his  histrionic  training — not  to  mention 
his  exhortations  at  Oxford — now  stood  him  in  good 
stead.  There  was  a  large  congregation,  naturally,  and 
Whitefield  spoke  with  unction.  His  audience  was  pro- 
foundly impressed.  It  was  afterwards  reported  to  the 
bishop,  probably  by  some  envious  fellow-citizen,  that 
the  sermon  had  driven  fifteen  people  mad.  Dr.  Benson, 
however,  was  quite  unmoved  by  this  statement,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  "  madness  "  might  not  be 
forgotten  before  the  following  Sunday. 

Gloucester  seemed  a  promising  field,  but  the  same 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


93 


week  Whitefield  returned  to  Oxford,  and  entered  on 
his  "  curatorship."  This  charge  was  not,  as  he  had 
imagined,  destined  to  be  for  long.  Soon  he  was  found 
at  the  Tower  Chapel  in  London,  where,  as  at  Gloucester, 
he  came,  and  saw,  and  conquered.  His  ministrations 
included  daily  prayer  at  Wapping  Chapel,  daily  visits 
to  the  soldiers  in  the  infirmary  and  barracks,  and  a 
weekly  sermon  at  Ludgate  Prison.  Then  we  find  him 
back  at  Oxford  once  more,  with  the  old  problem  of 
temporal  necessities  revived.  Whitefield,  both  from 
disposition  and  circumstances,  was  much  more  capable 
of  being  patronised  than  either  of  the  Wesleys,  who 
had  all  the  pride  and  independence  of  gentlemen,  and 
he  accepted  gratuities  with  alacrity.  Moreover,  Lady 
Betty  Hastings  provided  exhibitions  for  his  disciples. 
It  would  be  neither  kind  nor  reasonable  to  reverse  the 
natural  order  of  cause  and  effect,  but  the  bounty  of 
aristocratic  ladies  no  doubt  tended  to  strengthen  the 
Holy  Club,  which  had  become,  under  Whitefield's 
management,  a  sound  and  flourishing  institution. 

Then  followed  an  interregnum,  a  long  vacation,  in 
the  Hampshire  parish  of  Dummer — an  insignificant 
place  where  Whitefield  longed  for  Oxford,  or  at  least 
his  Oxford  friends,  much  as  Ovid  at  Tomi  longed  for 
Rome.  In  his  loneliness  he  solaced  himself  with  an 
imaginary  character  drawn  by  the  unconverted  William 
Law,  and  was  as  unwearied  in  discharging  the  daily 
round  of  parochial  duty  as  ever  Wesley  was.  Of 
course,  he  was  only  curate-in-charge,  but  even  if  he 
had  been  a  fully-fledged  persona  ecclesice,  his  mental 
conformation  was  such  that  he  could  not  be  perma- 
nently fitted  into  an  ordinary  sphere.  In  this  respect  he 
was  like  Wesley,  who  said  that  the  world  was  his  parish. 


94  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


When  Mr.  Kinchin,  for  whom  he  had  heen  serving, 
became  dean  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  White- 
field's  anxieties  on  account  of  the  prisoners  ceased. 
Mr.  Kinchin  was  a  good  man,  an  exemplary  pastor, 
and  he  would  look  after  them.  In  the  same  way, 
Harvey,  of  sepulchral  fame,  was  willing  to  fill  his 
place  at  Dummer.  The  world  was  all  before  him 
where  to  choose,  and  Whitefield  chose  Georgia.  The 
choosing  was  not  entirely  his  own.  John  Wesley  had 
written  to  him  after  this  fashion :  "  This  harvest  is 
great,  but  the  labourers  are  few.  What  if  thou  art 
the  man,  Mr.  Whitefield  ? "  Whitefield  thought  he 
was,  and  he  decided  to  embark — but  not  yet.  This 
was  partly  the  fault  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  to 
sail,  but  Whitefield  perhaps  was  not  sorry.  The 
interval  was  passed  neither  idly  nor  in  obscurity. 
The  irreverent  would  say  that  the  nimble  months 
were  spent  by  him  "starring"  in  the  provinces,  or 
"  bringing  down  the  house  "  in  London.  These  some- 
what vulgar  phrases  really  describe,  much  better  than 
more  elegant  terms,  what  happened.  Through  his 
zeal,  and  sympathy,  and  talent  the  novice  won  a 
succession  of  histrionic  triumphs  such  as  might  have 
turned  the  head  of  one  not  wholly  devoted  to  his  sacred 
calling.  It  is  truly  astonishing  to  read  of  his  successes, 
which  induced  his  friends  to  lament  the  "  pretty  prefer- 
ment "  he  might  have  gained  by  staying  at  home.  But 
the  expedition  to  America  appealed  to  the  romantic 
element  in  his  constitution  almost  as  much  as  the 
crowded  churches  and  weeping  audiences  in  Bristol 
and  in  London.  His  popularity  was  enormous.  He 
had  to  leave  Bristol  at  midnight,  or  he  would  have 
endured  the  terrible  scandal  of  being  escorted  from 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


9  5 


the  city  by  a  cavalcade.  It  was  much  the  same  in 
London,  where  Whitefield  battled  with  the  newspapers. 
A  journalist  of  the  time  insisted  on  advertising  him. 
He  reported  Whitefield's  sermons,  and  informed  the 
world  where  he  was  to  preach  next.  The  preacher 
protested  against  this  enforced  notoriety,  but  what 
was  the  use  of  that  ?  It  was  not  what  the  preacher 
wanted,  but  what  the  public  wanted,  that  concerned 
the  journalist. 

Although  no  formal  complaint  had  been  lodged  with 
the  bishop,  Whitefield's  departure  for  America  was 
unquestionably  well-timed.  He  found  the  conversa- 
tion of  Dissenters  "  savoury,"  and  that,  though  the  hue 
and  cry  of  enthusiasm  had  not  yet  been  raised,  was 
enough  to  disgust  churchmen  with  him.  But  now  a 
strange  thing  happened.  Wesley's  return  almost 
coincided  with  Whitefield's  going  away,  and  the  older 
Methodist  landed  just  in  time  to  communicate  with 
his  former  disciple.  The  disillusioned  missionary  must 
have  considered  that  the  old  relations  still  subsisted. 
At  any  rate  he  addressed  Whitefield  with  that  con- 
scious superiority  displayed  towards  everybody  not  his 
oracle  for  the  time  being.  Wesley  had  beguiled  the 
voyage  by  casting  lots — that  is  to  say,  he  would  open 
the  Bible  at  random  expecting  to  ascertain  the  will 
of  God  from  the  text  that  first  offered.  Before,  he 
had  suggested  that  Whitefield  might  be  the  man ; 
now,  he  withdrew  the  suggestion,  and,  in  the  light  of 
fancied  revelation,  commanded  him  to  return  to  London. 
Whitefield,  however,  took  leave  to  consult  his  own 
judgment.  He  remembered  the  story  of  the  old  pro- 
phet, the  lion,  and  the  ass  that  survived  his  dis- 
obedient owner ;  and  he  resisted  Wesley's  attempt  to 


96  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


seduce  him  from  the  path  on  which  he  had  entered 
after  so  much  deliberation.    Thus  they  twain  parted. 

What  was  the  secret  of  Whitefield's  success  ?  The 
most  potent  element  in  his  success,  as  in  that  of  all 
real  prophets,  was  a  heavenly  afflatus.  He  had  a 
message  for  his  age,  and  he  delivered  that  message 
with  incomparable  force  and  incomparable  tenderness. 
Garrick  is  said  to  have  envied  Whitefield's  manner  of 
pronouncing  "  oh ! "  The  pathos  and  persuasion  he 
could  throw  into  that  single  vocable  took  audiences 
by  storm.  Southey  speaks  of  Whitefield's  squint,  and 
avers  that  it  did  him  no  harm.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
truer  to  cite  this  personal  defect  as  a  crowning  proof 
of  the  mastery  of  mind  over  matter.  In  some  respects 
the  eye  is  as  eloquent,  if  not  more  eloquent,  than  the 
tongue.  The  Romans  are  said  to  have  conquered  the 
enemy  with  their  eyes  before  they  slew  them  with 
their  swords ;  and  every  orator,  in  his  crises  of  passion, 
spreads  havoc  with  the  concentrated  power  of  his  eyes. 
Whitefield  had  to  forego  this  advantage ;  nevertheless, 
he  is  said  to  have  preached  like  a  lion.  On  the  whole, 
however,  he  may  be  considered  to  represent,  far  more 
than  Wesley,  the  erotic  side  of  Methodism.  Wesley 
no  doubt  was  capable  of  a  sentimental  style.  He 
prated  about  "lovely  congregations"  and  "lovely 
families,"  but,  born  a  patriarch,  he  could  not  break 
into  a  true  rhapsody.  He  was  too  logical,  too  incisive ; 
he  liked  fighting  too  much.  Therefore  sentiment  did 
not  sit  well  on  him. 

With  Whitefield  it  was  just  the  reverse.  He  was 
open,  innocent,  ingenuous.  He  did  not  care  what  he 
said,  provided  that  it  affected  his  listeners,  and  this, 
apparently,  it  always  did.    As  the  result,  he  exposed 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


V7 


himself  to  the  rasping  sarcasms  of  the  cool-headed 
and  cold-hearted  Bishop  Lavington,  who  had  his  own 
reasons  for  being  annoyed  with  the  Methodists,  and 
whom  the  Methodists  in  their  turn  must  have  regarded 
as  the  impersonation  of  Satanic  influence.1  The 
episcopal  strictures  on  Whitefield's  erotics  ran  thus : 

"  What  heart  can  hold  out  against  your  persuasive 
eloquence,  your  flights  and  your  allusions,  melting, 
tender,  amorous,  soft,  and  sweet?  God  gives  you  a 
text,  and  directs  to  a  method  on  the  pulpit  stairs ;  the 
blessed  Lamb  reveals,  and  Sister  Williams,  who  is  near 
the  Lord,  opens  her  mouth  to  confirm  it ;  Jesus  rides 
triumphantly  from  congregation  to  congregation  in 
the  chariot  of  the  gospel ;  the  preacher  sits  in  his  dear 
Lord's  arms,  leaning  on  His  bosom,  and  sucking  the 
breasts  of  His  consolation.  .  .  .  Infants,  babes,  and 
sucklings  of  grace  are  borne  on  the  sides  of  Christ, 
dandled  on  His  knees,  and  walk  under  the  droppings  of 
His  blood,  while  from  the  lovely  face  and  lily  lips 
of  the  sweet  Jesus  distil  precious  promises  and  sweet- 
smelling  myrrh. 

"  In  the  meantime,  among  our  soul-seeking  brothers, 
our  sweet  societies  of  women,  our  love-feasts,  our 
precious,  poor,  sweet  little  lambs,  a  gracious  melting  is 
visible  ;  to  their  absent  friends  on  the  top  of  Pisgah, 
to  those  sweetly  sleeping  on  that  bed  perfumed  by  our 
Lord,  a  thousand  kisses  are  sent. 

"  When  brother  Whitefield  preached,  the  smiles  of  a 
cherubim  (sic)  were  in  his  countenance ;  the  hearts 
of  the  hearers  were  melted  into  tears ;  they  had  an 
over-weening  fondness  for  him  ;  they  ran  and  stopped 
him  in  the  alleys,  they  hugged  him  in  their  arms,  and 

1  They  styled  him,  however,  a  "theological  buffoon." 
7 


98  WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


said,  '  Where  thou  gocst,  I  will  go ;  where  thou  lodgest, 
I  will  lodge.' " 

However  foolish  and  extravagant  some  of  White- 
field's  sayings  may  have  been,  it  is  hard  (and,  of  course, 
needless)  to  find  any  excuse  for  Lavington.  His 
parody  of  Methodism  reads  much  like  a  parody  of 
Christianity.  To  speak  of  "the  sweet  Jesus"  as  of 
some  moppet  among  Methodists  is  plain  blasphemy. 
If  Lavington  did  not  find  Jesus  sweet,  what  right  or 
business  had  the  man  to  be  bishop  of  a  Christian 
community  ?  He  would  have  been  more  in  place  as  a 
political  hack,  as  a  writer  of  lampoons.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  Methodism  generated 
as  by-products  both  cant  and  rant;  and  as  it  is  the 
accident  rather  than  the  substance  that  wins  the 
attention  of  the  multitude,  many  of  the  "  small,"  as 
well  as  of  the  "  great  vulgar  " — John  Wesley  used,  and 
perhaps  coined,  the  latter  most  happy  and  convenient 
locution — regarded  Methodism  as  compounded  of  these 
two  elements.  Rant  is  one  of  the  effects  springing 
from  enthusiasm,  and  the  consideration  of  it  may  be 
deferred  to  a  later  chapter.  The  other  topic  may  be 
touched  on  here. 

While  rant  is  conceived  of  as  turbid  ebullition  un- 
controlled by  the  reasoning  faculty,  cant  has  been 
thought  to  symbolise  calculating  hypocrisy.  In 
common  parlance  it  denotes,  no  longer  "slang,"  but 
the  insincere  and  indiscriminate  use  of  biblical 
phraseology.  This  practice,  like  any  other  affectation, 
may  be  condemned  on  the  score  of  taste,  but  hypocrisy 
— that  is  another  matter.  The  early  Methodists 
followed  Wesley's  example,  and  were,  for  the  most 
part,  men  of  one  book.    They  not  only  read  the  Bible, 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


99 


they  loved  it,  and  what  more  natural,  what  more 
inevitable  than  that  they  should  draw  upon  its  stores 
of  eloquence  for  terms  and  phrases  idealising  life  ? 
Wesley  from  the  first  was  much  addicted  to  the  habit 
— perhaps  it  had  come  down  as  an  heirloom  from  his 
Puritan  ancestors — but  he  was  sensible  of  its  incon- 
gruity, and  in  theory  disapproved  of  it.  Writing  to 
Mr.  "John  Smith,"1  he  recognises  the  following  lim- 
itations : 

"  That  we  ought  not  to  relate  a  purely  natural  case 
in  the  Scripture  terms  that  express  our  Lord's 
miracles." 

"  That  low  and  common  things  are  generally 
improper  to  be  told  in  Scripture  phrase." 

"  That  scriptural  words  that  are  obsolete,  or  which 
have  changed  their  signification,  are  not  to  be  used 
familiarly,  as  neither  those  technical  terms  which 
were  peculiar  to  the  controversies  of  those  days." 

The  kind  of  cant  most  characteristic  of  the  Method- 
ists related  to  their  grand  doctrine  of  love,  and  the 
favourite  comparison  was  that  of  a  bridal.  Mystics  of 
every  age,  of  every  clime,  have  been  fond  of  this 
figure,  but  it  is  open  to  question  whether  it  ever 
was  worked  so  persistently  and  so  systematically  as 
by  the  Methodists.  Already  we  have  seen  how  White- 
field,  in  the  ardour  of  his  remembrance,  alludes  to  the 
day  of  his  conversion  as  the  day  of  his  espousals. 
There  is  no  harm  in  that.  The  marriage-morn  is, 
or  should  be,  a  time  of  joy,  though  in  many  minds  it  is 
bound  to  give  rise  to  solemn,  and  even  sad,  reflections. 

1  Mr.  "John  Smith"  is  believed  to  have  been  Dr.  Thomas  Lecker. 
Bishop  of  Oxford  (afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury).  He  used 
this  style  in  corresponding  with  Wesley,  and  was  a  sort  of  Nicodemus. 


ioo        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Still  the  phrase  will  serve.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
whether  we  ought  to  hail  with  quite  Wesley's  satis- 
faction the  discussion  of  what  are,  after  all,  occult 
mysteries  by  precocious  children. 

John  B.,  he  tells  us,  was  a  boy  of  ten.  He  was 
taken  ill,  and,  being  unable  to  sleep,  conversed  with 
his  sister,  whose  age  is  not  stated.  " '  We  shall  soon 
be  with  angels  and  archangels  in  heaven.  What 
signifies  this  wicked  world  ?  Who  would  want  to 
live  here  that  might  live  with  Christ  ? '  The  maid 
said,  '  I  wish  I  was  married  to  Christ.'  He  said, 
'Being  married  to  Christ  is  coming  to  Christ  and 
keeping  with  Him.  All  may  come  to  Him.  I  am 
happy,  I  am  happy.' " 

Even  more  unsatisfactory  than  the  bandying  of 
such  phrases  between  babes  and  sucklings,  was  the 
application  of  them  to  "  lovely  young  women " — 
especially  those  cut  down  in  their  maiden  prime.  The 
number  of  Methodist "  brides,"  in  the  ideal  and  spiritual 
sense,  is  quite  alarming.  Here  again  it  is  needful  to 
distinguish  between  the  lesson  of  watchfulness  in  our 
Lord's  parable  of  the  Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins,  and  the 
iterated  use  of  the  simile  in  the  case  of  particular 
persons.  This  is  crambe  repetita  ;  this  is  cant.  There 
was  no  lack  of  it. 

"In  the  afternoon  I  buried  the  remains  of  Judith 
Perry,  a  lovely  young  woman  snatched  away  at 
eighteen  ;  but  she  was  ripe  for  the  Bridegroom,  and 
went  forth  to  meet  Him  in  the  full  triumph  of  faith." 

"This  morning  Abigail  Pilsworth,  aged  fourteen, 
was  born  into  the  world  of  spirits.  I  talked  with  her 
the  evening  before,  and  found  her  ready  for  the 
Bridegroom.     A  few  hours  after,  she    quietly  fell 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


IOI 


asleep.  When  we  went  into  the  room  where  her 
remains  lay,  we  were  surprised.  A  more  beautiful 
corpse  I  never  saw ;  we  all  sung, 

'Ah  !  lovely  appearance  of  death, 
What  sight  upon  earth  is  so  fair  ? 
Not  all  the  gay  pageants  that  breathe 
Can  with  a  dead  body  compare.' 

All  the  company  were  in  tears.  And  in  all,  except 
her  mother,  who  sorrowed  (but  not  as  one  without 
hope),  they  were  tears  of  joy.  O  death  !  where  is  thy 
sting  ? " 

The  original  source  of  the  comparison  is  without 
doubt  the  parable  of  our  Lord,  but  the  expression 
"  ripe  for  the  Bridegroom,"  which  is,  properly  speaking, 
applicable  only  to  the  bride,  seems  to  point  to  an 
unusual  interpretation  of  the  parable.  Was  not 
Wesley's  mind  more  or  less  influenced  by  a  tale  of 
Ephraim  Syrus,  of  which  he  says,  "I  wonder  it  was 
never  translated  into  English."  It  had  been  trans- 
lated, and  well  translated,  into  Italian,  far  back  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  by  Domenico  Cavalea,  and  it  was 
in  his  version  that  the  present  writer  first  made  its 
acquaintance.  It  may  be,  as  Wesley  says,  that  the 
tale  had  never  been  Englished,  but  as  much  cannot 
be  stated  now,  since  he  himself  at  once  proceeded  to 
English  it.  This  story,  undoubtedly  good  of  its  kind, 
is  a  picturesque  embodiment  of  all  that  is  dear  and 
significant  to  the  mystic  soul,  but  is  not  particularly 
adapted  for  transference  to  those  pages.  The  heroine 
is  the  foster-child  of  a  hermit,  tender,  yet  strict. 
She  is,  however,  led  astray,  and  turns  out  a  female 
counterpart  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  Like  the  Prodigal 
Son  she   repents,   and  her   repentance  is  accepted. 


102        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Amidst  transports  of  grief  and  shame,  the  erring 
orphan  exclaims,  "  Where  shall  I  go  ?  Into  what  pit 
shall  I  cast  myself  ?  Where  is  the  exhortation  of  that 
blessed  man,  '  keep  thy  soul  spotless  for  thy  immortal 
Bridegroom  '  ?  " 

The  Methodist  "  brides  "  were  not  usually  Magdalens. 
Most,  if  not  all,  were  young  ladies  of  irreproachable 
morals,  and  none  more  than  the  "  Dairyman's 
Daughter."  This  saintly  maiden,  a  native  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight  and  a  contemporary  of  Wesley's  old 
age,  has  been  in  a  sense  immortalised  by  the  Rev. 
Legh  Richmond,  a  clerical  acquaintance  and  admirer, 
whose  tract,  bearing  the  above  inscription,  has  been 
scattered  broadcast  over  the  globe,  and  after  a  hundred 
years  is  still  selling.  The  writer,  however,  intimates 
that  Elisabeth  Wallbridge  owed  her  conversion  to  a 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  whereas  the  real 
instrument  was  the  Rev.  J.  Crabb,  an  officer  of  Wesley. 
Still  more  remarkable,  he  nowhere  gives  the  slightest 
hint  that  "  precious  Betsy "  was  a  Methodist.  A 
lenient  critic,  Mr.  Carvosso,  remarks,  "  This  might  have 
been  very  proper,  circumstanced  as  he  was."  Nothing 
of  the  sort.  The  first  error  may  have  been  involun- 
tary, but  Legh  Richmond  must  have  known  perfectly 
well  to  what  persuasion  the  "  Dairyman's  Daughter " 
belonged,  and  he  should  have  had  the  honesty  and 
candour  to  state  the  truth.  One  result  of  this  neglect 
was  an  edifying  exhibition  of  the  national  failing. 

"  A  clergyman  from  a  distance,  while  visiting  the 
grave  of  the  Dairyman's  Daughter,  was  very  lavish 
in  his  eulogies  of  the  piety  of  her  whose  '  sacred  dust 
was  sleeping  in  that  humble  grave.'  He  was  observed 
to  gather  some  flowers  which  grew  on   the  turf 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


103 


that  covered  the  grave,  and  carefully  deposit  them 
in  his  pocket.  A  gentleman  who  was  present  fell 
into  conversation  with  him,  and  in  the  course  of 
which  (sic)  asked  him  if  he  knew  that  Elisabeth  Wall- 
bridge  was  converted  amongst  the  Methodists,  and 
that  she  lived  and  died  a  member  of  that  Christian 
communion  ?  The  clergyman  listened  with  blank 
astonishment,  and  as  he  turned  away  he  was  observed 
to  drop  the  flowers  on  the  ground,  while  the  narrow- 
minded  gent  (sic)  walked  off'  in  evident  disgust.  The 
charm  was  dissipated.  '  Master,  we  saw  one  casting 
out  devils  in  Thy  name  ;  and  we  forbade  him,  because  he 
followeth  not  with  us.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him, 
Forbid  him  not :  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for 
us '(Luke  ix.  49,  50)." 1 

Elisabeth  Wallbridge  was  a  domestic  in  a  farm- 
house. She  picked  up  scraps  of  knowledge  at  a  dame's 
school,  but  never  learnt  to  spell  properly,  and,  as 
regards  the  learning  of  this  world,  must  be  written 
down  as  illiterate.  She  was,  however,  rich  in  faith, 
and,  had  she  been  born  in  an  age  when  faith  was 
respected,  would  perhaps  have  been  canonised.  It 
might  be  foolish  to  liken  her  to  the  great  woman-saint 
of  Siena,  but  the  truth  remains  that  Elisabeth  wrote 
in  a  way  that  would  not  have  shamed  Catherine.  She 
is,  for  this  reason,  well  fitted  to  stand  forth  as  a  repre- 
sentative Methodist  "bride."  Six  months  before  her 
death,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  she  began,  but  never  finished, 
a  personal  narrative  introduced  by  a  prologue  of  true 
mystic  warmth.  "  May  the  Lord  pardon  His  unfaithful, 
unprofitable  servant,  and  sanctify  me  throughout  soul, 
spirit,  and  body,  and  plunge  me  in  the  Godhead's 

1  Methodism  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  p.  226. 


104        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


deepest  sea,  that  I  may  be  lost  in  His  immensity  !  O 
glorious  hope  of  perfect  love  !  May  it  ever  fill  and 
lift  my  ravished  spirit  up  to  things  above !  There 
I  shall  for  ever  love.  I  thought  I  would  just  set  down, 
as  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  give  me  time  and  strength,  a 
few  of  His  particular  mercies  and  favours,  as  I  can 
recollect.  He  has  abounded  in  love  and  mercy  to  me. 
O  that  I  had  made  Him  all  the  returns  that  love  could 
make  by  giving  myself  a  sacrifice  daily  unto  Him  ! " 

It  would  be  monstrous  to  describe  such  language, 
when  it  records  genuine  and  generous  feeling,  as  cant. 
There  are  thoughts  that  lie  too  deep  for  tears,  but  man, 
and  especially  woman,  has  an  almost  insatiable  craving 
for  expression.  It  is,  in  a  great  measure,  by  virtue  of 
his  superior  faculty  of  expression,  itself  part  of  a  larger 
faculty  of  invention,  that  man  takes  precedence  of  the 
brutes.  Anyone  at  all  versed  in  mystic  literature  finds 
himself  quite  at  home  in  these  ejaculations  of  Elisabeth 
Wallbridge,  and  he  is  ready  to  believe,  from  internal 
evidence,  that  they  are  spontaneous  and  sincere.  Such 
language,  however,  easily  degenerates  into  cant.  It 
becomes  cant  the  moment  it  ceases  to  define  the  actual 
emotions  of  the  speaker,  and  the  Methodists  were 
not  without  grave  temptations  to  overstate  their 
experiences. 

To  ordinary  minds  it  seems  impossible  that  human 
beings  could  long  maintain  themselves  at  so  high  a 
pitch  of  religious  enthusiasm  as  that  indicated  in  the 
above  passage,  or  that  they  could  soar  to  such  a  pitch 
at  will.  The  Methodists,  however,  were  suspected  of 
attempting  this  feat.  In  his  bitter  criticism  of  Method- 
ism in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  Sydney  Smith  observes : 
"  The  Methodists  are  always  desirous  of  making  men 


LOVE  AND  DEATH 


105 


more  religious  than  it  is  possible,  from  the  constitution 
of  human  nature,  to  make  them.  If  they  could  suc- 
ceed as  much  as  they  wish  to  succeed,  there  would  be 
at  once  an  end  to  delving  and  spinning,  and  of  every 
exertion  of  human  industry.  Men  must  eat,  and  drink, 
and  work ;  and  if  you  wish  to  fix  upon  them  high  and 
elevated  notions,  as  the  ordinary  furniture  of  their 
minds,  you  do  these  two  things  :  you  drive  men  of  warm 
temperaments  mad,  and  you  introduce,  in  the  rest  of 
the  world,  a  low  and  shocking  familiarity  with  words 
and  phrases  which  every  real  friend  of  religion  would 
wish  to  keep  sacred.  The  friends  of  the  dear  Re- 
deemer who  are  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the  Isle  of 
Thanet  (as  in  the  extract  we  have  quoted)  —  is  it 
possible  that  this  mixture  of  the  most  awful  with  the 
most  familiar  images,  so  common  among  Methodists 
now  and  with  the  enthusiasts  in  the  time  of  Cromwell, 
must  not  in  the  end  divest  religion  of  all  the  deep  and 
solemn  impressions  it  is  calculated  to  produce  ?  " 

This  consideration — that  familiarity  breeds  contempt 
— appears  the  most  formidable  objection  to  the  class- 
meeting,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  characteristic 
products  of  Methodism.  The  class-meeting  was  the 
smallest  unit  of  the  Methodist  Society.  John  Wesley's 
conversion  occurred  in  a  meeting  of  that  sort,  and  it  is 
therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  laid  stress  on 
the  institution.  The  object,  however,  was  not  so  much 
to  make  as  to  retain  converts,  to  assist  them  from  justi- 
fication to  sanctification,  to  help  them  in  their  march 
from  the  wicket-gate  on  to  the  bound  of  the  waste,  on 
to  the  City  of  God. 

Wesley  did  not  understand  what  was  meant  by  being 
"  righteous  overmuch."    He  had  endeavoured,  but  with 


1 06        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


obvious  difficulty,  to  I'ender  this  point  clear  to  himself 
in  his  Oxford  days.  In  his  later  career  he  exalted  and 
strove  after  the  ideal  of  Christian  perfection,  and 
Christian  perfection,  he  thought,  would  be  best  attained 
through  the  class-meeting,  the  members  of  which  were 
to  "  provoke  each  other  to  love  and  good  works." 
Sydney  Smith's  caution  against  wishing  to  make  men 
more  religious  than  their  nature  permits  would  have 
had  no  effect  on  Wesley.  He  would  have  scouted  the 
limitation  as  an  insult  to  both  God  and  man. 

The  other  objection  most  commonly  urged  against 
the  class-meeting — that  it  is  virtually  another  name 
for  the  confessional — applies,  if  it  can  be  said  to  apply 
at  all,  much  more  forcibly  to  the  band-meeting,  a 
.smaller  and  purely  voluntary  function,  which  was  very 
private,  and  in  which  the  hardy  associates  were  sup- 
posed to  tell,  not  only  their  own,  but  each  other's  short- 
comings. The  likening  of  the  Methodist  class-meeting 
to  the  confessional  is,  however,  absurd.  The  Method- 
ists did  not  hide  crimes  or  even  tendencies  to  crimes,  as 
Wesley  shows  in  what  he  calls  a  "  tale  of  real  woe." 
Wesley  never  accepted  any  responsibilitj^  for  the  aberra- 
tions of  his  followers,  and  thus  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
narrate,  with  something  of  grim  enjoyment,  the  indis- 
cretion of  a  certain  dame,  who  mentioned  in  band  that 
she  had  "found  a  temptation  towards  Dr.  F."  This 
interesting  discovery  was  speedily  communicated  to 
her  husband,  who  vented  his  indignation  in  a  cudgel- 
ling. "  He  is  now  thoroughly  convinced  of  her  inno- 
cence, but  the  water  cannot  be  gathered  up  again  '  He 
sticks  there,  '  I  do  thoroughly  forgive  you,  but  I  can 
never  love  you  again.' " 


CHAPTER  V 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS 

Difficulties  and  Dangers— Harmless  Bishops— Field-Preaching— 
At  Kiugswood — "  Extraordinary  Circumstances  " — Causes — 
Posture  of  the  Clergy — A  Sermon  and  its  Effects — Wesley's 
"  Journalese  " — Fury  of  Dissent — Brutal  Conduct  to  Methodist 
Women — Methodist  Valour — "  No  Popery ! " — Methodism  and 
the  Fashionable  World — Humphry  Clinker — The  King  of  Bath 

Soon  after  Wesley's  return  from  Germany,  he  was 
joined  by  Whitefield,  whose  first  term  in  the  planta- 
tions was  even  shorter  than  his  own.  Before  his 
departure  for  America,  many  of  Whitefield's  friends 
had  said  to  him,  "  What  need  of  going  abroad  for  this  ? 
Have  we  not  Indians  enough  at  home  ?  If  you  have  a 
mind  to  convert  Indians,  there  are  colliers  enough  at 
Kingswood." 

This  counsel  was  of  a  piece  with  Charles  Wesley's 
poetical  rejoinder  to  his  uncle  Matthew,  and  consider- 
ing the  spiritual  destitution  of  many  parts  of  England 
and  the  prevailing  apathy  manifested  towards  religion, 
the  advice  was  not  inopportune.  Those  who  urged  this 
course  had  probably  little  or  no  idea  of  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  it  involved,  but  whatever  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  may  have  been,  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield, 
with  truly  apostolic  courage,  were  ready  to  face  them. 

107 


io8        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Speaking  of  the  difficulties,  an  acute  writer  has 
observed :  "  To  spread  o'er  American  wilds  order  and 
civilisation;  to  pour  on  the  astonished  mind  of  the 
savage  cannibal  gospel  truths ;  to  bend  untutored  ignor- 
ance to  faith  or  acquiescence,  have  signalised  the  martyr 
and  canonised  the  saint.  Yet  I  am  of  opinion  that 
greater  difficulties  present  themselves  to  the  reclaimer 
of  a  European  wallowing  in  filthy  iniquity,  and  ob- 
stinately persisting  in  surly  ignorance.  The  man  who 
attempts  to  coerce  and  restrain  habits  so  inveterate 
and  passions  so  furious,  and  to  teach  animals  scarcely 
susceptible  of  any  pleasure  but  the  most  gross  sensual 
gratification,  has  obstacles  to  surmount  unknown  to  an 
instructor  of  the  simple  but  unpolluted  sons  of  nature." 
And  the  dangers  were  as  great  as  the  difficulties. 

Southey  does  himself  less  than  justice  by  under- 
valuing these  obstacles.  "  I  pray  God,"  Whitefield  had 
said,  "  that  the  same  spirit  may  be  found  in  all  that 
profess  the  Lord  Jesus  as  was  in  the  primitive  saints, 
confessors,  and  martyrs.  .  .  .  This  is  my  comfort,  the 
doctrines  I  have  taught  are  the  doctrines  of  Scripture, 
the  doctrines  of  our  own  and  of  other  reformed  Churches. 
If  I  suffer  for  preaching  them,  so  be  it !  Thou  shalt 
answer  for  me,  O  Lord,  my  God ! "  Upon  these  and 
similar  utterances  Southey  passes  the  inept  criticism : 
"  Such  fears,  or  rather  such  hopes,  were  suited  to  the  days 
of  Queen  Mary,  Bishop  Gardiner,  and  Bishop  Bonner ; 
they  are  ridiculous  or  disgusting  in  the  time  of  George 
the  Second,  Archbishop  Potter,  and  Bishop  Gibson." 

It  will  be  shown  in  the  present  chapter  that  White- 
field's  apprehensions  were  by  no  means  ill-grounded. 
Persecution  is  not  a  royal  or  episcopal  monopoly,  nor 
are  beheadal  and  burning  the  sole  forms  that  persecu- 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  109 


tion  can  assume.  Such  brutal  and  inhuman  methods 
were  no  doubt,  as  regards  the  clergy,  out  of  date — more 
perhaps  from  indifference  than  from  charity — and  the 
worst  that  Whitefield  anticipated  from  official  dis- 
pleasure was  imprisonment.  No  Government,  however, 
can  protect  its  subjects  from  the  penalties — at  any- 
rate,  all  the  penalties — of  unwelcome  innovation.  No 
Government,  for  instance,  can  hinder  a  sudden  onset  of 
the  populace.  The  barbarous  scenes  witnessed  even 
now,  when  education  has  become  general,  in  connection 
with  games  of  football,  prove  to  demonstration  that, 
until  passions  are  eliminated  from  human  breasts,  there 
is  always  danger  of  eruption.  The  seeming  inertia  is 
the  inertia  of  a  volcano  whose  fires  are  latent,  not  ex- 
tinct. The  mobbing  of  the  Salvation  Army  at  East- 
bourne, not  many  years  ago,  has  been  succeeded  by  free 
fights  in  churches  between  rival  religious  factions. 
These  things  are  always  possible.  Attack  prejudice, 
and  a  horde  of  devils  will  rise  up  to  answer  you. 
Whitefield  knew,  what  Southey  appears  to  have  for- 
gotten, that  King  George  and  the  bishops  could  not 
suppress  the  hostility  which  he  and  his  colleagues,  by 
their  procedings,  were  bound  to  evoke.1 

It  is  noticeable  that  Samuel  Wesley,  writing  to  his 
mother  about  a  fortnight  before  his  death,  expressed 
himself  as  quite  satisfied  that  no  harm  would  befall  his 
brother  from  the  bishops.  "  As  I  told  Jack,  I  am  not 
afraid  the  Church  should  excommunicate  him  (dis- 

1  "We  congratulate  ourselves  that  the  days  of  persecution  are  gone 
by  ;  but  persecution  is  that  which  affixes  penalties  upou  views  held,  in- 
stead of  upon  life  led.  Is  persecution  only  fire  and  sword  ?  But  suppose 
a  man  of  sensitive  feeling  says,  The  sword  is  less  sharp  to  me  than  the 
slander  :  fire  is  less  intolerable  than  the  refusal  of  sympathy  "  (F.  W. 
Robertson  on  The  Tongue). 


no        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


cipline  is  at  too  low  an  ebb),  but  that  he  should  ex- 
communicate the  Church.    He  is  pretty  near  it  

Ecclesiastical  censures  have  lost  their  terrors ;  thank 
fanaticism  on  the  one  hand,  and  atheism  on  the  other. 
To  talk  of  persecution  from  thence  is  mere  insult. 
It  is— 

'To  call  the  bishop  Grey-beard  Goff, 
And  make  his  power  as  mere  a  scoff 
As  Dagon,  when  his  hands  were  off.'  " 

It  is  clear  that  neither  John  nor  Charles  Wesley  had 
the  least  desire  to  fly  in  the  face  of  authority,  and  it  is 
equally  clear  that  Dr.  Edmund  Gibson,  the  Bishop  of 
London,  had  no  intention  of  quarrelling  with  the 
Wesleys  about  singularity  of  doctrine.  When  the 
brothers  waited  on  him  to  receive  his  admonitions,  he 
framed  a  definition  of  "  assurance "  which  was  not 
their  definition,  but  which  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
urged  on  them  as  a  condition  of  orthodoxy.  Other 
subjects  discussed  were  the  distinction  between  Anti- 
nomianism  and  Justification  by  Faith,  which  many 
held  to  be  a  distinction  without  a  difference,  and  the 
question  of  baptizing  Dissenters  who  bad  already  sub- 
mitted to  the  rite  at  the  hands  of  lay  persons.  These 
matters  were  amicably  disposed  of.  The  bishop  ad- 
vised his  visitors  to  read  up  ecclesiastical  law  ;  and  in 
return  the  Wesleys  asked  the  bishop  not  to  be  easy  in 
receiving  accusations  against  them,  and,  in  any  case, 
to  bring  them  acquainted  with  such  accusations,  which 
Dr.  Gibson  civilly  agreed  to  do. 

Those  were  the  days  of  Whig  supremacy,  and  it  is 
thei'efore  not  wholly  surprising  that,  on  one  point, 
Dr.  Gibson  was  more  liberal  than  the  Methodists,  who 
were  still  High  Churchmen  enough  to  look  with  dis- 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  in 


dam  on  the  ordinances  of  Dissenters.  By  a  singular 
fatality  it  has  happened  several  times  that  the  Bishop 
of  London  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  have 
resembled  in  comparative  importance  the  Father 
Ambrose  and  Abbot  Boniface  of  Scott's  misnomered 
novel.  Gibson  was  vastly  more  respectable  than 
Potter.  He  was  a  great  ecclesiastic.  Sir  Robert 
Walpole  was  reproached  for  his  confidence  in  Gibson. 
"  You  suffer  him  to  be  a  pope."  "  And,"  said  the  states- 
man, unperturbed,  "  a  very  good  pope  he  is." 

The  bishop  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  contend  with 
Charles  Wesley,  especially  on  the  question  of  lay 
baptism,  and,  having  alluded  to  his  power  of  inhibi- 
tion, cautioned  him  not  to  push  things  to  extremes. 
The  archbishop,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  not  to  have 
known  his  own  mind.  He  hated  innovation,  and 
declared  he  would  have  none  of  it  in  his  time,  but  he 
said  of  the  Methodists,  "  These  gentlemen  are  irregular, 
but  they  have  done  good,  and  I  pray  God  to  bless 
them."  He  counselled  the  Wesleys,  if  they  would  be 
extensively  useful,  to  assail  immorality  and  vice,  leaving 
doubtful  matters  alone.  John  Wesley  in  his  old  age, 
recollecting  this  advice,  called  Potter  a  "  great  and  good 
man  "  ;  and,  indeed,  he  seems  to  have  had  a  share  of  that 
wise  moderation  which  is  understood  to  be  a  primary 
qualification  for  the  chair  of  St.  Augustine,  but  is 
none  the  less  ruinous  to  personal  greatness.  If  Wesley 
had  been  a  Potter,  he  might  have  enjoyed  honours  and 
emoluments,  but  his  name  would  never  have  been  in- 
scribed in  the  bead-roll  of  illustrious  churchmen. 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  prominence 
of  Charles  Wesley  at  this  period.  The  fame  of  the 
younger  brother,  except  as  a  hymn-writer,  has  been 


112 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


overshadowed  by  that  of  the  elder,  but,  in  a  literal  and 
chronological  sense,  it  is  Charles,  rather  than  John, 
Wesley,  who  is  entitled  to  be  called  the  Founder  of 
Methodism.  He,  it  will  be  recollected,  not  John, 
originated  the  Holy  Club,  the  germ  of  the  whole 
movement;  and  now  that  Methodism  was  about  to 
make  a  stronger  and  wider  appeal,  it  was  Charles 
Wesley  that  dared  the  first  step — the  step  that  costs 
- — so  far  as  London  was  concerned.1  What  makes  this 
circumstance  more  extraordinary  is  the  fact  that, 
whenever  disputes  arose — and  the  history  of  Method- 
ism, as  of  Christianity  generally,  is  full  of  them — 
Charles  Wesley  went  invariably  Tory.  He  hated 
innovation  as  much  as  Archbishop  Potter,  but,  in  spite 
of  himself,  he  was  compelled  to  innovate. 

During  John  Wesley's  absence  controversy  had  arisen 
in  the  society  at  Fetter  Lane  about  lay-preaching,  and 
Charles  had  raised  his  voice  against  it.  But  field- 
preaching  was  almost  as  great  a  novelty,  and  the 
younger  brother,  in  the  teeth  of  his  own  prejudices 
and  those  of  the  archbishop  (who  seems  to  have 
muttered  something  about  excommunication),  began  to 
preach  in  the  fields.  This,  if  he  was  to  preach  at  all, 
was  a  practical  necessity.  The  effect  of  their  espous- 
ing and  enforcing  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith 
had  been  to  close  the  churches  of  London  against 
the  brothers.    They  were  now  the  grand  heresiarchs 

1  As  will  be  seen,  Whitefield  anticipated  both  the  brothers,  to  whom 
he  was  now  oracle.  This  conduct,  however,  did  not  appear  so  strange 
in  him.  " The Wesleys,"  remarks  the  Scots  Magazine  for  1739,  "are 
more  guilty  than  Whitefield,  because  they  are  men  of  more  learning, 
better  judgment,  and  cooler  heads."  The  Scots  Magazine  is  right. 
The  responsibility  for  Methodism  as  a  system  unquestionably  rests  on 
the  Wesleys. 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  113 

of  the  age.  Samuel  Wesley  expressed  the  general 
sentiment  when  he  wrote,  "  They  design  separation. 
They  are  already  forbidden  all  the  pulpits  in  London ; 
and  to  preach  in  that  diocese  is  actual  schism.  In  all 
likelihood  it  will  come  to  the  same  all  over  England, 
if  the  bishops  have  courage  enough." 

Discipline  and  enthusiasm,  philanthropy,  and  con- 
servatism waged  an  even  battle  in  Charles  Wesley's 
mind  until  Whitefield,  who  had  more  of  decision  in 
him,  told  him  what  to  do.  This  was  to  preach  in 
the  fields  the  next  Sunday.  By  that  means  "he 
would  break  down  the  bridge,  render  his  retreat 
difficult  or  impossible,  and  be  forced  to  fight  his  way 
forward."  Charles  Wesley  broke  down  the  bridge. 
"  June  24th,"  he  says,  "  I  prayed  and  went  forth  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  found  near  a  thousand 
helpless  sinners  waiting  for  the  word  in  Moorfields. 
I  invited  them  in  my  Master's  words,  as  well  as  name : 
'  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest.'  The  Lord  was  with  me, 
even  me,  the  meanest  of  His  messengers,  according  to 
His  promise.  At  St.  Paul's,  the  psalms,  the  lessons, 
etc.,  for  the  day  put  new  life  into  me ;  and  so  did  the 
sacrament.  My  load  was  gone,  and  all  my  doubts  and 
scruples." 

Regarding  this  irregularity,  Samuel  Wesley,  the 
genius  of  order  and  of  orthodoxy,  announced  himself 
as  follows : — "  For  my  own  part,  I  had  much  rather 
have  them  picking  straws  within  the  walls,  than 
preaching  in  the  area  of  Moorfields."  The  gifted 
schoolmaster,  perhaps,  did  not  mean  all  that  he  said, 
but  the  exaggeration  was  not  playful.  Samuel  would 
have  stopped  the  field-preaching  if  he  could. 
8 


H4        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


An  innovation  in  London  possesses  at  least  an  ex- 
ternal significance  impossible  in  the  provinces,  and, 
from  a  national  standpoint,  Charles  Wesley  may  be 
said  to  have  borne  the  brunt  of  unpopularity.  The 
original  theatre  of  Methodist  missionary  operations 
was,  however,  Bristol  and  the  neighbourhood.  When 
Whitefield  recommended  Charles  Wesley  to  preach  in 
the  fields,  he  spoke  with  the  authority  of  one  who  had 
tried  and  had  succeeded. 

A  journal  called  the  Weekly  Advertiser  supplies 
particulars  of  two  episodes  relating  to  the  period  of 
the  clerical  boycott.  If  this  journal  may  be  believed, 
Charles  Wesley  managed  to  occupy  a  pulpit,  the  use 
of  which  had  been  refused  him  by  the  incumbent. 
The  trick  was  simple.  Before  the  outraged  parson 
had  any  conception  of  his  purpose,  he  had  audaciously 
mounted  the  stairs.  It  is  hardly  likely  that  a  man  of 
the  stamp  of  Charles  Wesley  would  condescend  to  such 
demagogic  arts.  Supposing  the  story  to  be  true,  he 
was  probably  the  victim  of  a  practical  joke.  There 
is,  at  all  events,  good  reason  to  believe  that  a  practical 
joke,  or  practical  mistake,  was  perpetrated  at  St. 
Margaret's,  Westminster,  what  time  Whitefield  was 
pushed  by  the  crowd,  and  in  particular  by  one  Mr. 
Bennett,  into  the  pulpit  from  which  the  rector  and  his 
henchmen  vainly  endeavoured  to  banish  him.  Although 
the  blame  for  this  conduct  rested  with  his  unwise  ad- 
mirers, odium  would  inevitably  fall  on  Whitefield  as 
having  forced  himself  into  another  man's  pulpit. 
Accordingly,  he  departed  for  Bristol. 

The  precaution  was  useless.  The  fame  of  his  exploit 
— thanks  to  the  Weekly  Advertiser — had  preceded  him, 
and  he  found,  on  arriving,  the  churches  closed  to  his 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  115 

ministrations.  When,  after  a  few  days,  two  clergymen 
relented,  the  chancellor  of  the  diocese  intervened,  and 
Whitefield  was  admonished  that  he  might  not  preach 
without  a  licence.  If  he  did,  the  penalty  would  be 
suspension,  followed,  in  case  of  obduracy,  by  expulsion. 
Then  at  last  Whitefield  remembered  the  old  advice  of 
his  friends,  and  preached  to  the  colliers  at  Kingswood. 
His  congregations  were  not  select.  They  were  not 
refined.  But  they  were  large,  very  large.  We  read  of 
two  thousand,  of  four  thousand,  of  ten  thousand,  even 
of  twenty  thousand  persons  assembling  to  hear  him  in 
various  places  near  Bristol.  At  Moorfields,  later  in  the 
year,  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  is  computed  to  have 
been  present.  Loose  estimates,  no  doubt,  but  convey- 
ing the  notion  of  vast  audiences. 

Whitefield 's  mission  at  Bristol  began  early  in  February 
1739,  and  lasted  six  weeks.  He  then  experienced  a 
return  of  that  spiritual  ambition  which  made  Dummer 
so  irksome.  As  the  experiment  of  field-preaching  had 
answered  so  well  at  Kingswood,  he  thought  it  might 
answer  still  better  in  London.  If  numbers  are  any 
criterion,  his  success  at  Moorfields  and  at  Kennington 
Common  was  certainly  more  colossal.  Everywhere,  it 
seems,  he  made  collections  for  religious  and  charitable 
objects  in  Georgia,  for  which,  in  the  month  of  August, 
he  sailed. 

Although  Whitefield  in  his  letters  addressed  Wesley 
as  "  Honoured  Sir,"  and  was  in  age  and  station,  as  well 
as  in  the  weightier  matters  of  character  and  intellect, 
inferior  alike  to  John  and  Charles,  he  appears  for  a 
time  to  have  actually  taken  the  lead.  He  was  the 
first  of  Methodists  to  solve  the  ever-present  and  ever- 
difficult  problem  of  reaching  the  masses,  and  as  neither 


n6        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


of  the  brothers  was  afflicted  with  false  pride,  they  were 
content  to  accept  Whitefield's  guidance  and  to  learn, 
if  possible,  his  secret.  When  Whitefield,  flushed  with 
victory,  wished  to  exchange  Bristol  for  London,  he  sent 
an  urgent  summons  to  John  Wesley,  whom  he  pro- 
posed to  name  his  successor.  There  was  some  demur. 
Charles  Wesley,  as  always,  objected.  Eventually,  how- 
ever, John  Wesley  went,  and,  having  heard  Whitefield 
preach  at  the  Bowling  Green,  Rose  Green,  and  Hannam 
Mount,  took  up  his  cross.  His  journal  shows  plainly 
what  were  his  feelings  at  the  time. 

"Saturday  {March  31). — In  the  evening  I  reached 
Bristol  and  met  Mr.  Whitefield  there.  I  could  scarce 
reconcile  myself  at  first  to  the  strange  way  of  preach- 
ing in  the  fields,  of  which  he  set  me  an  example  on 
Sunday ;  having  been  all  my  life  (till  very  lately)  so 
tenacious  of  every  point  relating  to  decency  and  order 
that  I  should  have  thought  the  saving  of  souls  almost 
a  sin,  if  it  had  not  been  done  in  a  church. 

"April  1. — In  the  evening  (Mr.  Whitefield  being 
gone)  I  began  expounding  our  Lord's  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  (one  pretty  remarkable  precedent  of  field- 
preaching,  though  I  suppose  there  were  churches  at 
that  time  also)  to  a  little  society  which  was  accustomed 
to  meet  once  or  twice  a  week  in  Nicholas  Street. 

"  Monday,  2. — At  four  in  the  afternoon,  I  submitted 
to  be  more  vile,  and  proclaimed  in  the  highways  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation,  speaking  from  a  little  emi- 
nence in  a  ground  adjoining  the  city,  to  about  three 
thousand  people.  The  scripture  on  which  I  spoke  was 
this  (is  it  possible  that  anyone  should  be  ignorant  that 
it  is  fulfilled  in  every  true  minister  of  Christ  ?) :  '  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because   He  hath 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  117 

anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  He 
hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted ;  to  preach  de- 
liverance to  the  captives,  and  recovery  of  sight  to  the 
blind :  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  pro- 
claim the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.' " 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  brief  intervals,  Wesley 
laboured  at  Bristol  from  April  to  December,  and,  on 
the  whole,  with  remarkable  success.  The  colliers  of 
Kingswood  were  fair  game  for  excommunicated  zeal. 
They  were  in  the  parish  of  St.  Philip's,  but  the  church 
was  three  miles  distant,  and  any  desire  the  collier 
might  have  to  attend  divine  service  was  at  once 
checked  by  the  cool  indifference  of  his  pastors  and 
masters.  The  maxim  that  Mahomet  must  go  to  the 
mountain  is  now  well  understood  and  obeyed  in  respon- 
sible quarters,  but  in  those  days,  owing  to  the  more 
severely  aristocratic  ordering  of  English  society,  such 
condescension  was  hardly  dreamed  of.  Dr.  Johnson 
said  that  "  those  who  lived  to  please,  must  please 
to  live."  The  beneficed  clergy,  and  especially  the 
pluralists,  were  under  no  such  disagreeable  con- 
straint. 

The  parochial  system  has  its  merits — it  is  regarded 
as  the  glory  of  the  English  Church — but  neither  the 
parochial  nor  any  other  system  ought  to  win  excessive 
reverence.  Circumstances  vary,  and  it  is  usually 
considered  a  mark  of  wisdom  to  adapt  yourself  to 
them.  The  ossified  Church  of  England  had  lost  this 
faculty.  Both  at  Kingswood  and  elsewhere,  the 
parochial  system  and  the  population  no  longer  squared, 
no  longer  coincided.  The  times  were  distinctly  out  of 
joint.  In  order  to  remind  the  colliers  of  their  fealty 
to   St.   Philip's,  the  incumbents  of  other  churches 


1 1 8        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 

repelled  colliers  presenting  themselves  at  Holy  Com- 
munion, just  as  if  colliers  were  children  or  dumb, 
driven  beasts,  capable  of  being  coerced  into  observance 
of  ecclesiastic  rules.  It  is  possible  to  treat  a  highly 
disciplined  man,  a  man  sensitive  on  the  point  of 
etiquette,  as  a  puppet  or  a  pawn,  but  the  rough  toiler 
sets  a  high  value  on  his  moments  of  liberty,  and  has  a 
taste  for  patronising  churches. 

"  Where  arc  you  going  this  evening,  Thomas  ?" 

"  I  am  going  to  St.  John's.  You  see  I  must  divide 
my  favours." 

Thomas  is  not  such  a  nonentity  as  you  might  have 
thought.  When  Whitefield  and  Wesley  called  on  him  and 
invited  bis  good  opinion,  he  was  disposed  to  be  very 
polite,  and  liberally  responded  to  their  friendly  overtures. 

John  Wesley,  as  has  been  frequently  pointed  out, 
was  of  a  different  mental  constitution  from  Whitefield, 
whose  head  had  not  gained  an  ascendency  over  his 
heart,  and  who  was  thus  preserved  from  many  embarrass- 
ments. The  same  might  be  said,  in  a  more  qualified 
sense,  of  Charles  Wesley,  though  he  had  not  inherited 
the  warmly  sympathetic  nature  of  the  son  of  the  inn. 
John  Wesley's  inhumanity — to  use  a  strong,  but 
justifiable  expression1 — bore  fruit  of  a  painful  and 
singular  kind.  When  Whitefield  preached,  when 
Charles  Wesley  preached,  nothing  abnormal  occurred. 
People  may  have  wept — many  did  weep — but  those 
were  gracious  drops.  It  has  always  been  the  privilege 
of  orators,  the  function  of  actors,  to  stir  the  emotions  ; 
and  to  touch  the  heart  with  the  feeling  of  mortal 
sorrow  was  recognised  by  Aristotle  as  a  refining  and 

1His  contemporaries  criticised  his  "stoical  insensibility."  TLe  moral 
surgeon,  however,  must  not  flinch. 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  119 


elevating  influence,  as  the  moral  justification  of  the 
stage.  Physical  contortions  and  convulsions,  hysteria, 
fits  are  of  another  complexion,  benefiting  neither 
body  nor  soul.  Yet  these  were  the  manifestations 
with  which  John  Wesley  was  brought  face  to  face, 
as  the  direct  or  indirect  result  of  his  own  unselfish 
labours. 

So  many  baseless  slanders  were  circulated  about  the 
Methodists  that  Wesley's  own  statements  regarding 
those  strange,  those  melancholy,  but  yet  not  wholly 
unwelcome  concomitants  of  his  preaching  possess  a 
quite  exceptional  value.  "  May  1. — At  Baldwin  Street 
my  voice  could  scarce  be  heard  amidst  the  groanings  of 
some,  and  the  cries  of  others  calling  aloud  to  Him  that 
is  mighty  to  save ;  and  ten  persons  then  began  to  say 
in  faith,  '  My  Lord  and  my  God ! '  A  Quaker,  who 
stood  by,  was  very  angry,  and  was  biting  his  lips,  and 
knitting  his  brows,  when  he  dropped  down  as  thunder- 
struck. The  agony  he  was  in  was  even  terrible  to  behold. 
We  prayed  for  him,  and  he  soon  lifted  up  his  head 
with  joy,  and  joined  us  in  thanksgiving.  A  bystander, 
John  Hay  don,  a  man  of  regular  life  and  conversation, 
one  that  zealously  attended  the  public  prayers  and 
sacrament,  and  was  zealous  for  the  Church  and  against 
Dissenters,  laboured  to  convince  the  people  that  all  this 
was  a  delusion  of  the  devil ;  but  next  day,  on  reading 
a  sermon  on  '  Salvation  by  Faith,'  he  suddenly 
changed  colour,  fell  off  his  chair,  and  began  screaming, 
and  beating  himself  against  the  ground.  The  neigh- 
bours were  alarmed,  and  flocked  together.  When  I 
came  in,  I  found  him  on  the  floor,  the  room  being  full, 
and  two  or  three  holding  him  as  well.  He  immediately 
fixed  his  eyes  on  me,  and  said,  '  Ay,  this  is  he  I  said 


120        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


deceived  the  people.  But  God  has  overtaken  me.  I 
said  it  was  a  delusion  of  the  devil,  but  this  is  no 
delusion.'  Then  he  roared  aloud,  '  O  thou  devil ! 
thou  cursed  devil !  yea,  thou  legion  of  devils !  thou 
canst  not  stay  in  me.  Christ  will  cast  thee  out.  I 
know  His  work  is  begun.  Tear  me  in  pieces,  if  thou 
wilt ;  but  thou  canst  not  hurt  me.'  He  then  beat  him- 
self against  the  ground;  his  breast  heaving,  as  if  in 
the  pangs  of  death,  and  great  drops  of  sweat  trickling 
down  his  face.  We  all  betook  ourselves  to  prayer. 
His  pangs  ceased,  and  both  his  body  and  soul  were  set 
at  liberty.  With  a  clear,  strong  voice  he  cried,  '  This  is 
the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 
Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  from  this  time  forth 
for  evermore ! '  I  called  again  an  hour  after.  We 
found  his  body  weak  as  an  infant,  and  his  voice  lost ; 
but  his  soul  was  in  peace,  full  of  love,  and  rejoicing  in 
the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God." 

"  May  21. — In  the  evening,  at  Nicholas  Street,  I  was 
interrupted,  almost  as  soon  as  I  had  begun  to  speak, 
by  the  cries  of  one  who  strongly  groaned  for  pardon 
and  peace.  Others  dropped  down  as  dead.  Thomas 
Maxfield  began  to  roar  out  and  beat  himself  against 
the  ground,  so  that  six  men  could  scarcely  hold  him. 
Except  John  Haydon,  I  never  saw  one  so  torn  of  the 
Evil  One.  Many  others  began  to  cry  out  to  the 
Saviour  of  all,  insomuch  that  all  the  house,  and  indeed 
all  the  street,  for  some  space  was  in  an  uproar.  But 
we  continued  in  prayer,  and  the  greater  part  found 
rest  to  their  souls." 

"  June  15. — Whilst  (at  Wapping)  I  was  earnestly 
inviting  sinners  to  '  enter  into  the  holiest '  by  this  '  new 
and  living  way,'  many  of  those  that  heard  began  to 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  121 

call  upon  God  with  strong  cries  and  tears.  Some  sunk 
down,  and  there  remained  no  strength  in  them ;  others 
exceedingly  trembled  and  quaked ;  some  were  torn 
with  a  kind  of  convulsive  motion  in  every  part  of  their 
bodies,  and  that  so  violently  that  often  four  or  five 
persons  could  not  hold  one  of  them.  I  have  seen  many 
hysterical  and  many  epileptic  fits ;  but  none  of  them 
were  like  these,  in  many  respects.  One  woman  was 
greatly  offended,  being  sure  that  they  might  help  it  if 
they  would ;  but  she  also  dropped  down  in  as  violent 
an  agony  as  the  rest." 

This  is  the  evidence,  then.  It  would  be  easy  to 
multiply  illustrations  drawn  from  the  same  source, 
as  has  been  done,  with  marvellous  appetite  for  the 
abnormal,  by  Luke  Tyerman.  The  present  writer  has 
found  it  sufficiently  irksome  to  transcribe  even  the 
passages  cited,  without  adding  more.  The  question 
now  is,  What  was  the  right  attitude  to  assume  towards 
these  and  kindred  phenomena  ?  Charles  Weslej?-  took 
up  the  position  that,  while  there  might  have  been 
genuine  cases  of  hysteria,  in  other  cases  the  hysteria 
was  pure  imposture.  To  a  preacher  these  clamours 
were  highly  inconvenient.  They  drowned  his  voice. 
At  Newcastle,  therefore,  Charles  Wesley  gave  notice 
that  anyone  thus  offending  should  be  carried  to  the 
furthest  corner  of  the  room.  He  makes  the  significant 
remark,  "My  porters  had  no  employment  the  whole 
night." 

The  "  outward  affections "  thus  promptly  checked 
happened  four  years  after  the  "  first  preaching,"  which, 
Charles  Wesley  thought,  was  the  halcyon  period  of 
genuine  hysteria.  And,  indeed,  the  reality  of  these 
early  cases  is  beyond  doubt.    Hypocrisy,  of  course,  is 


122        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


never  to  be  encouraged;  was  it  proper  to  encourage 
the  original  sickness?  At  first  Whitefiekl  conceived 
that  it  was  not;  and,  on  June  25,  1739,  he  addressed  a 
letter  of  remonstrance  to  Wesley. 

"  Honoured  Sir, — I  cannot  think  it  right  in  you  to 
give  so  much  encouragement  to  those  convulsions 
which  people  have  been  thrown  into,  under  your 
ministry.  Was  I  to  do  so,  how  many  would  cry 
out  every  night?  I  think  it  is  tempting  God  to 
require  such  signs.  That  there  is  something  of  God  in 
it,  I  doubt  not.  But  the  devil,  I  believe,  interposes.  I 
think  it  will  encourage  the  French  prophets,  take 
people  from  the  written  word,  and  make  them  depend 
on  visions,  convulsions,  etc.,  more  than  on  the  promises 
and  precepts  of  the  gospel." 

Twelve  days  later,  Whitefield  arrived  on  the  scene 
of  action,  when  Wesley  appears  to  have  "  talked  him 
over."  Moreover,  the  identical  effects  attended  his 
own  application  of  Scripture — an  argument  which 
necessarily  silenced  any  remaining  objections.  That 
Whitefield's  opposition  had  collapsed  is  very  evident 
from  the  satisfied  and  triumphant  tone  of  Wesley's 
conclusion :  "  From  this  time,  I  trust,  we  shall  all 
suffer  God  to  carry  on  His  own  work  in  the  way  that 
pleaseth  Him." 

The  truth  is  that  the  Methodist  lawgiver  regarded  the 
convulsions  as  "  signs  and  wonders  "  sent  or  permitted 
on  account  of  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts ;  but  he  is 
forced  to  confess  that  many,  although  they  saw,  would 
not  believe.  As  to  the  immediate  causes,  Wesley, 
never  at  a  loss  for  "  principles,"  offers  a  choice  of 
alternatives.  The  incidents  may  be  explained  as 
resulting  from  a  "  strong,  lively,  and  sudden  apprehen- 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  123 

sion  of  the  heinousness  of  sin,  the  wrath  of  God,  and 
the  bitter  pains  of  eternal  death."  Or  they  may  be 
explained  by  "  the  agency  of  those  spirits  who  still 
excel  in  strength,  and,  as  far  as  they  have  power  from 
God,  will  not  fail  to  torment  whom  they  cannot 
destroy ;  to  tear  those  that  are  coming  to  Christ. 
It  is  also  remarkable  that  there  is  plain  Scripture 
precedent  of  every  symptom  that  has  lately  appeared  " 
— particularly,  it  may  be  supposed,  that  of  the  boy 
who  had  a  dumb  spirit.    Hence  the  italics. 

These  theories,  though  advanced  separately  and 
independently,  are  not  intended  to  be  mutually  exclu- 
sive. The  theory  of  demoniacal  possession,  which 
Wesley  would  have  abandoned  with  extreme  reluct- 
ance, is  superadded  to  the  natural  causes,  though,  for 
others,  faith  in  it  is  optional.  The  natural  causes 
alone  sufficed.  Why  then  did  Wesley  entertain  so 
strongly  the  notion  of  Satanic  torture  ?  The  reason  is 
obvious.  Assuming  that  the  unhappy  persons  were 
torn  by  devils,  Wesley  was  able  to  accomplish  what 
the  disciples  of  Christ  at  first  could  not.  By  the  power 
of  God  he  cast  out  devils.  The  bestowal  of  super- 
natural grace  stamped  with  divine  approval  the 
opening  of  his  larger  ministry. 

Since  even  Wesley  did  not  regard  natural  causes  as 
opposed  to  spiritual  agencies,  it  will  be  expedient 
perhaps  to  confine  matters  within  the  limits  of  human 
reason  and  experience.  Amongst  the  natural  causes 
Wesley's  personality  stands  out  prominent  and  dis- 
tinct. No  doubt  the  "  extraordinary  circumstances " 
were  as  much  a  subject  of  surprise  to  him  as  they 
were  to  most  people.  He  did  not  foresee  what  was  to 
occur,  but  the  seeds,  many  of  them,  were  in  himself. 


I24        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


His  intense  conviction,  his  absolute  devotion,  his 
quiet  but  authoritative  manner,  his  learning  and 
ability  compelled  attention  in  a  way  that  Whitefield's 
addresses  hardly  ever  did.  It  could  not  be  said  of 
Wesley,  as  might  perhaps  have  been  said,  in  a  com- 
parative sense,  of  Whitefield  :  "  And  lo,  thou  art  unto 
them  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant 
voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument,  for  they 
hear  thy  words,  but  they  do  them  not.  And  when 
this  cometh  to  pass  (lo,  it  will  come)  then  shall  they 
know  that  a  prophet  hath  been  among  them." 
Wesley's  audiences  needed  not  to  wait  for  an  era  of 
general  desolation,  though  national  calamity  was  on 
the  wing.  They  recognised  him  as  a  prophet,  and 
behaved  accordingly.  The  man  and  the  message 
were  suited  to  each  other.  They  exercised  a  terrible 
fascination. 

Thirty  years  later,  writing  to  Mr.  Joseph  Benson, 
Wesley  remarks  on  the  inadequacy  of  pure  reason  as 
an  engine  or  implement  in  human  affairs.  " '  Child,' 
said  my  father  to  me,  when  I  was  young,  '  you  think 
to  carry  everything  by  dint  of  argument.  But  you 
will  find  by  and  by  how  very  little  is  ever  done  in 
the  world  by  clear  reason.'  Very  little  indeed  !  It  is 
true  of  almost  all  men,  except  so  far  as  we  are  taught 
of  God— 

'Against  experience  we  believe, 

We  argue  against  demonstration  ; 
Pleased  while  our  reason  we  deceive, 
And  set  our  judgment  by  our  passion.' 

Passion  and  prejudice  govern  the  world;  only  under 
the  name  of  reason.  It  is  our  part,  by  religion  and 
reason  conjoined,  to  counteract  them  all  we  can." 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  125 


By  distinguishing  reason  from  religion,  Wesley 
shows  that  he  does  not  consider  them  identical — it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  he  could — or,  at  any  rate,  coexten- 
sive. Religion  includes  elements — e.g.  feeling  and 
imagination — which  may  become,  in  a  high  degree, 
irrational.  To  these  elements,  though  not  to  these 
alone,  Wesley,  in  common  with  most  popular  preachers, 
appealed.  But  he  did  not,  like  many  popular  preachers, 
appeal  to  them  separately.  He  did  not,  that  is  to  say, 
make  people  fear,  and  fancy,  and  weep,  and  wonder, 
and  laugh  by  turns.  Less  perhaps  from  choice  than 
from  innate  necessity,  he  appealed  to  a  conglomerate, 
an  amalgam  of  reason,  imagination,  and  feeling,  to  the 
capacity  for  what  is  called  "  sensation."  Now  "  sensa- 
tion," while  it  admits  of  preparation,  is,  like  the 
Methodist  type  of  conversion,  instantaneous,  the  work 
of  a  moment.  It  was  this  strain  on  the  faculties, 
operating  through  the  nervous  system,  that  disturbed 
the  equilibrium  of  people,  that  produced  those  painful 
scenes  and  exhibitions  of  frenzy. 

But  the  explanation  is  not  yet  complete.  Where 
the  subjects  are,  not  merely  individuals,  but  crowds, 
the  effects  are  proportionately  severe.  Emotion  is 
contagious  ;  precedent — especially  when  visible — con- 
straining. An  inscrutable  and  sometimes  very  terrible 
force,  fashion  does  not  argue  and  will  not  be  argued 
with.  A  crowd  is  never  absolutely  sane.  It  sounds 
a  strange  paradox,  but  on  reflection  it  will  be  seen 
that  Methodism,  arch-enemy  of  balls  and  masques,  of 
foppery  and  finery,  was  yet  aided  by  fashion.  Fashion 
deals  not  in  externals  only.  The  essence  of  fashion  is 
the  doing  something  that  you  might  not  otherwise  do, 
because  others  do  it.  The  Quaker,  in  Wesley's  Journal, 


126        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


succumbed  to  intensified  fashion,  to  the  swift,  over- 
mastering access  of  transfused  religious  emotion. 

It  was  among  the  simple  and  poor  that  Wesley  won 
his  Oudenardes  and  Rami]  lies.  He  attacked  no  par- 
ticular vocations,  no  particular  localities.  The  miners 
of  Kingswood,  the  farm-hands  and  shepherds  of  remote 
villages,  the  shopkeepers  of  petty  country  towns,  the 
weavers  of  congested  manufacturing  districts,  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland's  foot  and  horse — each  of  these 
classes  was  attacked,  and  each  of  these  classes,  in 
the  persons  of  its  representatives,  yielded  to  the 
Captain  of  souls,  and  followed  His  banner,  a  truly 
great  army.  The  task  was  no  pastime,  but  it  was 
achieved.  How  ?  Commonly,  by  preaching  Hell. 
The  object  was  to  make  men  feel,  and  this  object 
was  gained  by  calling  down  fire  from  heaven,  by  the 
introduction  into  a  discourse  of  something  electric. 
Wesley  knew  the  value  of  a  shock,  and  he  shocked 
his  audiences  rudely,  deliberately,  and  incessantly. 
It  was  his  chosen  and  not  ineffectual  method  for  the 
awakening  of  pagan  England.  If  fits  were  in  some 
cases  the  result,  that  was  not  his  concern.  He  noted 
the  fact  as  a  fact  of  natural  history.  It  did  not  affect 
his  purpose  in  the  least.  He  had  moral  courage.  He 
suffered  God  to  carry  on  His  work  in  His  own  way. 

But  if  Wesley  had  moral  courage,  he  had  also 
brilliant  physical  courage.  The  incidents  of  his  early 
ministry  were  not  calculated  to  smooth  his  future  path, 
nor  can  the  doctrines  of  sin  and  eternal  punishment 
be  described  as  popular.  They  might,  and  did,  exert 
an  antipathetic  attraction,  but  attraction  of  this  kind 
is  full  of  peril.  That  way  lies  martyrdom.  When 
Wesley  appeared  in  a  town,  his   endeavours  were 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS 


127 


resented  in  advance.  It  was  much  the  same  as  in 
apostolic  times.  Those  who  had  turned  the  world 
upside  down  had  come  thither.  The  Methodist  leaders 
had  forfeited  whatever  protection  they  might  have 
enjoyed  from  their  priesthood  in  the  Church.  She 
disowned  them. 

"It  pleased  God,"  says  Wesley,  "by  two  or  three 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England  to  call  many 
sinners  to  repentance,  who,  in  several  parts,  were 
undeniably  turned  from  a  course  of  sin  to  a  course 
of  holiness. 

"  The  ministers  of  the  places  where  this  was  done 
ought  to  have  received  those  ministers  with  open 
arms;  and  to  have  taken  those  persons  who  had  just 
begun  to  serve  God  into  their  particular  care  ;  watch- 
ing over  them  in  tender  love  lest  they  should  fall  back 
into  the  snare  of  the  devil. 

"  Instead  of  this,  the  greater  part  spoke  of  those 
ministers,  as  if  the  devil,  not  God,  had  sent  them. 
Some  repelled  them  from  the  Lord's  Table ;  others 
stirred  up  the  people  against  them,  representing  them, 
even  in  their  public  discourses,  as  fellows  not  fit  to 
live ;  papists,  heretics,  traitors ;  conspirators  against 
their  king  and  country. 

"  And  how  did  they  watch  over  the  sinners  lately 
reformed  ?  Even  as  a  leopard  watcheth  over  his 
prey.  They  drove  some  of  them  from  the  Lord's 
Table,  to  which  till  now  they  had  no  desire  to  approach. 
They  preached  all  manner  of  evil  concerning  them, 
openly  cursing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  They 
turned  many  out  of  their  work,  persuaded  others 
to  do  so  too,  and  harassed  them  in  all  manner  of 
ways. 


128        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


"  The  event  was  that  some  were  wearied  out,  and  so 
turned  back  to  the  vomit  again :  and  then  these  good 
pastors  gloried  over  them,  and  endeavoured  to  shake 
others  by  their  example." 

These  are  strong  words,  but  Wesley,  looking  at  the 
matter  from  the  standpoint  of  "  the  cause,"  and  speak- 
ing from  personal  knowledge,  did  not  exaggerate. 
Even  if  harsher  language  had  been  used,  it  might  have 
been  pardoned.  At  Wednesbury  the  incumbent  pro- 
nounced a  discourse  of  which  Wesley  says,  that  he 
never  "  heard  so  wicked  a  sermon,  and  delivered  with 
such  bitterness  of  voice  and  manner."  The  results 
of  this  address,  spoken  in  1743,  were  deplorable. 
Men,  and  women,  and  children  were  stoned,  and 
beaten,  and  pelted  with  mud.  Homes  were  entered, 
and  licensed  burglars,  achieving  the  ends  of  injustice, 
carried  away  the  furniture.  Wesley  was  at  Bristol 
when  the  news  of  this  outbreak  arrived,  and  he  at 
once  hastened  to  comfort  and  encourage  his  distressed 
flock.  It  soon  appeared  that  the  shepherd  was  to  be 
smitten,  as  well  as  the  sheep. 

"  I  was  writing  at  Francis  Ward's  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  cry  arose  that  the  mob  had  beset  the  house. 
We  prayed  that  God  would  disperse  them ;  and  so  it 
was.  One  went  this  way  and  another  that,  so  that 
in  half  an  hour  not  a  man  was  left.  I  told  our 
brethren  '  Now  is  the  time  to  go ' ;  but  they  pressed 
me  exceedingly  to  stay.  So,  that  I  might  not  offend 
them,  I  sat  down,  though  I  foresaw  what  would  follow. 
Before  five,  the  mob  surrounded  the  house  again,  and 
in  greater  numbers  than  ever.  The  cry  of  one  and  all 
was,  '  Bring  out  the  minister !  We  will  have  the 
minister  ! '    I  desired  one  to  take  the  captain  by  the 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  129 

hand  and  bring  him  into  the  house.  After  a  few 
sentences  interchanged  between  us,  the  lion  was  become 
a  lamb. 

"  I  desired  him  to  go  and  bring  one  or  two  of  the 
most  angry  of  his  companions.  He  brought  in  two, 
who  were  ready  to  swallow  the  ground  with  rage ; 
but  in  two  minutes  they  were  as  calm  as  he.  I  then 
bade  them  make  way,  that  I  might  go  out  among 
the  people.  As  soon  as  I  was  in  the  midst  of  them,  I 
called  for  a  chair,  and  asked, 1  What  do  any  of  you  want 
with  me  ? '  Some  said,  '  We  want  you  to  go  with  us  to 
the  justice.'  I  replied,  '  That  I  will,  with  all  my  heart.' 
I  then  spoke  a  few  words,  which  God  applied,  so  that 
they  cried  out  with  might  and  main,  '  The  gentleman 
is  an  honest  gentleman,  and  we  will  spill  our  blood  in 
his  defence.'  I  asked, 1  Shall  we  go  to  the  justice  to-night 
or  in  the  morning  ? '  Most  of  them  cried,  '  To-night, 
to-night ! '  on  which  I  went  before,  and  two  or  three 
hundred  followed,  the  rest  returning  whence  they  came. 

"  The  night  came  on  before  we  had  walked  a  mile, 
together  with  heavy  rain.  However,  on  we  went  to 
Bentley  Hall,  two  miles  from  Wednesbury.  One  or 
two  ran  before  to  tell  Mr.  Lane  that  they  had  brought 
Mr.  Wesley  before  his  worship.  Mr.  Lane  replied, 
'  What  have  I  to  do  with  Mr.  Wesley  ?  Go  and  carry 
him  back  again.'  By  this  time  the  main  body  came 
up,  and  began  knocking  at  the  door.  A  servant  told 
them  Mr.  Lane  was  in  bed.  His  son  followed,  and 
asked  what  was  the  matter.  One  replied,  '  Why,  an't 
please  you,  they  sing  psalms  all  day ;  nay,  and  make 
folks  rise  at  five  in  the  morning ;  and  what  would  your 
worship  have  us  to  do  ? '  '  To  go  home,'  said  Mr.  Lane, 
1  and  be  quiet.' 
9 


130        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 

"  Here  they  were  at  a  full  stop,  till  one  advised  to 
go  to  Justice  Persehouse,  at  Walsall.  All  agreed  to 
this,  so  we  hastened  on,  and  about  seven  came  to  his 
house.  But  Mr.  Persehouse  also  sent  word  that  he 
was  in  bed.  Now  they  were  at  a  stand  again,  but  at 
last  they  all  thought  it  the  wisest  course  to  make  the 
best  of  their  way  home.  About  fifty  of  them  under- 
took to  convoy  me ;  but  we  had  not  gone  a  hundred 
yards,  when  the  mob  of  Walsall  came  pouring  in  like 
a  flood,  and  bore  down  all  before  them.  The  Darlaston 
mob  made  what  defence  they  could;  but  they  were 
weary,  as  well  as  outnumbered,  so  that  in  a  short  time, 
many  being  knocked  down,  the  rest  went  away  and 
left  me  in  their  hands. 

"  To  attempt  speaking  was  vain,  for  the  noise  on 
every  side  was  like  the  roaring  of  the  sea.  So  they 
dragged  me  along  till  we  came  to  the  town,  where 
seeing  the  door  of  a  large  house  open,  I  attempted  to 
go  in,  but  a  man,  catching  me  by  the  hair,  pulled  me 
back  into  the  middle  of  the  mob.  They  made  no  more 
stop  till  they  had  carried  me  through  the  main  street, 
from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other.  I  continued 
speaking  all  the  time  to  those  within  hearing,  feeling 
no  pain  or  weariness.  At  the  west  end  of  the  town, 
seeing  a  door  half-open,  I  made  towards  it,  and  would 
have  gone  in,  but  a  gentleman  in  the  shop  would  not 
suffer  me,  saying  they  would  pull  the  house  down  to 
the  ground.  However,  I  stood  at  the  door,  and  asked, 
'  Are  you  willing  to  hear  me  speak  ? '  Many  cried  out, 
'  No,  no  !  Knock  his  brains  out !  Down  with  him  ! 
Kill  him  at  once ! '  Others  said,  '  Nay,  but  we  will 
hear  him  first.'  I  began  asking,  '  What  evil  have  I 
done  ?    Which  of  all  have  I  wronged  in  word  or  deed  ? ' 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  131 


and  continued  speaking  for  above  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  till  my  voice  suddenly  failed.    Then  the  floods 
began  to  lift  up  their  voice  again ;  many  crying  out, 
Bring  him  away  !  bring  him  away  ! ' 

"In  the  meantime  my  strength  and  my  voice 
returned,  and  I  broke  out  aloud  into  prayer.  And 
now  the  man  who  just  before  headed  the  mob  turned 
and  said,  '  Sir,  I  will  spend  my  life  for  you  ;  follow  me, 
and  not  one  soul  here  shall  touch  a  hair  of  your  head.' 
Two  or  three  of  his  fellows  confirmed  his  words,  and 
got  close  to  me  immediately.  At  the  same  time  the 
gentleman  in  the  shop  cried  out,  '  For  shame,  for 
shame  !  Let  him  go  ! '  An  honest  butcher,  who  was 
a  little  further  off,  said  it  was  a  shame  they  should  do 
thus ;  and  pulled  back  four  or  five,  one  after  another, 
who  were  running  on  the  most  fiercely.  The  people 
then,  as  if  it  had  been  by  common  consent,  fell  back  to 
the  right  and  left,  while  those  three  or  four  men  took 
me  between  them,  and  carried  me  through  them  all. 
But  on  the  bridge  the  mob  rallied  again.  We  therefore 
went  on  one  side  over  the  mill-dam,  and  thence  through 
the  meadows  till,  a  little  before  ten,  God  brought  me 
safe  to  Wednesbury,  having  lost  only  one  flap  of 
my  waistcoat,  and  a  little  skin  from  one  of  my 
hands. 

"  From  the  beginning  to  the  end,  I  found  the  same 
presence  of  mind  as  if  I  had  been  sitting  in  my  own 
study.  But  I  took  no  thought  for  one  moment  before 
another.  Only  once  it  came  into  my  mind  that  if 
they  should  throw  me  into  the  river,  it  would  spoil 
the  papers  that  were  in  my  pocket.  For  myself,  I  did 
not  doubt  but  I  should  swim  across,  having  but  a  thin 
coat  and  a  light  pair  of  boots." 


132        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


It  may  be  well  to  observe  that  this  long  passage  has 
not  been  cited  for  the  sake  of  the  style.  Wesley, 
though  he  knew  what  pertained  to  elegance  and  pro- 
priety, did  not  aim  at  literary  distinction,  and  would 
probably  have  been  the  first  to  disclaim  the  post- 
prandial compliment  bestowed  on  his  Journal  by  an 
eminent  statesman,  who  described  it  as  an  unstudied 
masterpiece  of  English  literature.  This  is  the  lan- 
guage of  eulogy,  not  of  criticism.  The  Journal  is  a 
wonderful  monument  of  a  wonderful  man,  but  "  litera- 
ture "  it  is  not.  It  is  a  very  plain,  honest,  unpretend- 
ing record.  More  than  that,  there  are  in  the  above 
narrative  several  expressions  that  offend  against  taste. 
Wesley  could  not  plead  ignorance  of  the  requirements 
of  taste.  We  have  had  his  admission  that  "  low  and 
common  things  are  generally  improper  to  be  told  in 
Scripture  phrase,"  yet  we  find  him  saying,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  noisy  mob,  "  the  floods  lift  up  their  voice." 
This  may  be  a  venial  offence  in  a  zealous  clergyman, 
but  it  is  not  very  venial  in  a  mere  writer,  to  whom 
some  effort  at  style  is  an  obligation.  Wesley,  however, 
would  as  lief  have  worn  a  fine  coat — he  spoke  words 
to  this  effect — as  cultivate  a  fine  style.  The  phrase 
"  What  evil  have  I  done  ?  "  is  even  more  exceptionable 
as  suggesting  a  parallel  between  himself  and  his  Divine 
Master.  All  these  lapses  arose  out  of  Wesley's  position 
as  a  "  homo  unius  libri."  He  was  an  omnivorous  reader, 
and  solaced  his  often  long  and  lonely  journeys  with 
almost  any  work  that  came  to  hand,  but  the  study  of 
the  Bible — and  study  is  not  precisely  the  same  as 
reading — infected  his  writings  with  a  sort  of  pata- 
vinity,  a  cast  of  dialect.  Thus,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  literary  charms — freshness,  individual  expression — 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  133 

is  absent  from  his  writings  ;  and  the  accusation  of  cant 
helped  forward  the  scandal  of  the  Cross. 

If  the  passage  was  not  cited  as  a  specimen  of  style, 
neither  was  it  cited  by  reason  of  the  rare  interest 
of  the  matter.  No  important  consequences  ensued. 
Wesley  was  not  the  worse  for  his  adventure,  and  this 
circumstance  lends  a  touch  of  melodrama  to  the  whole 
relation.  As  the  incident  occurred  long  ago,  and  we 
were  not  there,  cynical  unreason  recks  of  mock  heroics. 
After  all,  the  mob  was  not  unamiable.  Nobody  was 
killed.  No,  but  Wesley  was  in  evident  peril,  and  this 
was  one  of  a  series  of  adventures  studding  the  crusade 
of  Methodism,  from  which  Wesley  escaped,  humanly 
speaking,  through  his  own  coolness,  and  courage,  and 
natural  command  over  his  fellows.  By  his  cheerful- 
ness and  serenity,  and  by  his  resolute  bearing,  he  won 
the  respect  of  a  class  not  by  any  means  too  gentle. 

Although  he  allows  that  he  was  not  unduly  per- 
turbed, Wesley  regarded  his  escape  as  miraculous. 
This  was  eminently  characteristic  of  the  man.  Nothing 
happened  to  Wesley  in  an  ordinary  or  commonplace 
way.  He  had  an  absolute  craze  for  the  strange,  the 
uncanny,  the  unaccountable.  Thus  he  gives  in  a 
parenthesis  several  particulars  designed  to  correct 
suggestions  of  mock  heroics,  and  to  invest  an  obscure 
affair  with  the  halo  of  invisible  ministries.  Many 
attempted  to  throw  him  down  on  a  slippery  path,  but 
he  never  stumbled.  Many  sought  to  lay  hold  of  his 
collar  and  clothes,  but  failed,  Wesle}r,  however,  losing 
the  flap  of  his  waistcoat.  A  "  lusty  man "  aimed 
repeated  blows  with  a  large  oaken  stick  at  the  back 
of  Wesley's  head,  but  each  blow,  it  was  impossible  to 
say  why,  missed  its  mark.    Another  ruffian  rushed 


134        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


through  the  crowd  with  his  arm  raised  aloft  to  strike, 
but  a  sudden  impulse  seized  him,  and  letting  his  arm 
fall,  he  observed,  "What  soft  hair  he  has!"  at  the 
same  time  stroking  Wesley's  head.  A  further  point 
is  that  Wesley,  without  knowing  it,  paused  outside  the 
house  of  the  mayor.  The  mob,  however,  was  better 
informed,  and  deferred  somewhat  to  law  and  order  as 
represented  by  the  gentleman  in  the  shop.  Wesley 
deems  it  worthy  of  particular  notice  that  the  first  to 
relent  were  the  heroes  of  the  town,  the  invariable 
captains  of  the  rabble.  One  of  them  had  been  a  prize- 
fighter at  the  bear-gardens.  The  rude  people  respected 
Wesley's  delicacy  by  not  wounding  his  ears  with  foul 
and  indecent  nicknames.  They  brought  no  specific 
charge  against  him.  But  they  thirsted  for  his  blood 
all  the  same.  Tacitus  says  of  the  Christian  martyrs 
under  Nero  that,  possessed  with  an  abominable  super- 
stition, they  were  condemned  not  so  much  for  their 
supposed  crime  of  firing  the  city  as  from  the  hatred  of 
all  mankind.  This  was  precisely  the  case  of  the  early 
Methodists.  At  Leeds  the  mob  in  high  excitement  was 
ready  to  knock  out  their  brains  for  joy  that  the  Duke 
of  Tuscany  was  emperor.    What  next  ? 

Although  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  clergy 
as  a  body,  when  they  did  not  oppose,  did  not  support 
Wesley,  by  some  of  his  order  he  was  neither  perse- 
cuted nor  ignored.  The  Rev.  Vincent  Perronet,  vicar 
of  Shoreham,  Kent,  in  1745,  invited  him  to  preach  in 
his  church,  but  by  this  time  the  very  name  of  Wesley 
was  enough,  and  the  favour  of  a  country  parson,  how- 
ever pious  and  venerable,  could  not  save  him  from  the 
execrations  of  the  vulgar.  "As  soon  as  I  began  to 
preach,  the  wild  beasts  began  roaring,  stamping,  bias- 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  135 


pheming,  ringing  the  bell,  and  turning  the  church  into 
a  bear-garden.  I  spoke  on  for  half  an  hour,  though 
only  the  nearest  could  hear.  The  rioters  followed  us 
to  Mr.  Perronet's  house,  raging,  threatening,  and  throw- 
ing stones.  Charles  Perronet  hung  over  me  to  inter- 
cept the  blows.  They  continued  their  uproar  after  we 
got  into  the  house." 

Thus  the  clergy  were  not  all  hostile.  Neither 
were  Wesley's  brother-churchmen  alone  in  rejecting 
him.  The  Dissenters  displayed  much  acrimony.  Dr. 
Doddridge  was  sympathetic,  but,  as  has  been  before 
insisted  on,  the  attitude  of  dignitaries  and  great  men 
does  not  always  determine  the  attitude  of  small  men. 
Persons  in  high  place,  and  men  conspicuous  for  their 
talents,  usually  have  the  sense  to  avoid  measures  likely 
to  damage  their  reputation.  The  light  that  beats  on 
their  actions  inspires  them  with  caution,  and  prevents 
them  from  yielding  too  much  to  passion  or  prejudice. 
In  that  respect  Lavington  stands  forth  as  a  rare  and 
melancholy  exception.  This  consideration  does  not 
move  to  the  same  degree  people  in  humble  stations, 
and  living  in  remote  places,  out  of  the  public  ken. 
Experience  has  taught  them  what  will  gain  popularity 
within  their  immediate  circle,  and  what  will  be  toler- 
ated, and  even  applauded,  within  the  larger  circle 
bounding  their  •  sphere  of  interest.  It  is  wonderful 
what  mortals  will  dare  when  released  from  effective 
criticism.  Charles  Wesley  found  this  to  be  true  of 
several  leading  inhabitants  of  Devizes.  "  (The  rioters) 
were  already  wrought  up  to  the  proper  pitch  by  the 
curate  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  town,  particularly 
Mx*.  Sutton  and  Mr.  Willey,  Dissenters,  the  two  leading 
men.    Mr.  Sutton  frequently  came  out  to  the  mob  to 


136        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


keep  up  their  spirits.  He  sent  word  to  Mrs.  Phillips, 
that  if  she  did  not  turn  that  fellow  out  to  the  mob,  he 
would  send  them  to  drag  him  out.  Mr.  Willey  passed 
by  again  and  again,  assuring  the  rioters  that  he  would 
stand  by  them,  do  what  they  would." 

The  direst  results  of  persecution  did  not  extend  to 
the  Wesleys.  Often,  as  soldiers  of  Christ,  they  looked 
death  in  the  face  with  level  eyes  and  tranquil  hearts, 
but  neither  of  the  par  nobile  fratrum  was  called  on 
to  lay  down  his  life  for  God  and  Methodism.  Pro- 
vidence decreed  that  they  should  not  die  until  their 
work  had  been  accomplished,  and  their  high  character, 
polished  manners,  respectable  station,  and  beautiful 
assurance  operated  as  a  charm  on  the  savage  populace. 
At  Kingswood  the  Methodist  converts  were  assaulted, 
but  Charles  Wesley  was  immune.  At  Plymouth  Dock 
John  Wesley  walked  boldly  into  the  thick  of  the 
excitement  and  took  the  captain  of  the  mob  by  the 
hand.  This  proof  of  confidence  was  irresistible.  "  Sir," 
said  the  fellow,  "  I  will  see  you  safe  home.  No  man 
shall  touch  you.  Gentlemen,  give  back.  I  will  knock- 
down the  first  man  that  touches  him." 

When  the  personal  glamour  was  withdrawn,  when 
Methodism  was  represented  by  familiar  acquaintance, 
by  poor,  simple  neighbours,  distinguished  by  no  fine 
scholarship  or  courtly  address,  matters  took  another 
complexion.  There  was  a  notion  in  Wesley's  time,  as 
there  was  in  Southey's,  that  the  days  of  martyrdom 
were  past.  Was  not  the  Protestant  ascendency  secure  ? 
Was  it  not  the  turn  of  latitudinarian  or  Broad  Church 
politics?  What  cause  to  fear  the  rack,  the  thumb- 
screw, or  the  stake,  whilst  the  Georges  bore  sway  ? 
Alas  !  in  his  Farther  Appeal  Wesley  could  cite  sickening 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  137 


instances  of  the  way  Methodist  women  were  treated 
by  brave  churchmen  who  never  went  to  church. 

"On  June  20,  1743,  about  four  in  the  afternoon 
they  came  to  the  house  of  Widow  Turner,  of  West 
Bromwich.  They  threw  in  bricks  and  stones  so  fast 
that  she  was  forced  to  open  the  door  and  run  out 
among  them.  One  of  her  daughters  cried  out,  '  My 
mother  will  be  killed  ! '  On  which  they  fell  to  throw- 
ing stones  at  her.  .  .  .  The  widow  asked,  '  How  can 
you  come  and  abuse  us  thus  ? '  On  which  one  came 
with  a  large  club,  and  swore  if  she  spoke  another  word 
he  would  knock  her  on  the  head  and  bury  her  in  the  ditch. 

"  On  the  19th  of  June,  James  Yeoman,  of  Walsall, 
saw  Mary  Bird  in  her  father's  house  at  Wednesbury, 
and  swore,  '  By  G — ,  you  are  there  now,  but  we  will 
kill  you  to-morrow.'  Accordingly,  he  came  with  a 
mob  the  next  day ;  and  after  they  had  broken  all  the 
windows,  he  took  up  a  stone,  and  said,  '  Now,  by  G — , 
I  will  kill  you.'  He  threw  it,  and  struck  her  on  the 
side  of  the  head.  The  blood  gushed  out,  and  she 
dropped  down  immediately." 

A  little  of  the  admiration  so  freely  bestowed  on  the 
Christian  virgins  who  perished  nobly  in  the  amphi- 
theatre might  well  be  reserved  for  the  no  less  heroic 
Methodist  maiden  stoned,  if  not  to  death,  in  her 
father's  house.  Methodism,  however,  has  crystallised 
into  sects,  and  Christianity  as  a  whole  has  scaled 
heights  of  worldly  grandeur  to  which  particular 
branches  have  not  yet  climbed,  and  only  recently  aspired. 

Quite  astonishing  is  the  casuistry  with  which  even 
an  unworldly  writer  like  "  Robertson  of  Brighton  " — 
a  little  biassed  perhaps  by  the  bigotry  of  triumphant 
evangelicalism — distinguishes  early  Christianity  from 


138        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 

early  Methodism,  the  truth  being  that  the  analogy 
between  them  is,  on  all  points,  almost  perfect.  Thus, 
in  his  sermon  on  Sensual  and  Spiritual  Excitement, 
he  says :  "  The  effects  are  similar.  On  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  when  the  first  influences  of  the  Spirit  de- 
scended on  the  early  Church,  the  effects  resembled 
intoxication.  They  were  full  of  the  Spirit,  and  mock- 
ing bystanders  said,  '  These  men  are  full  of  new  wine ' ; 
for  they  found  themselves  elevated  into  the  ecstasy  of 
a  life  higher  than  their  own,  possessed  of  powers  which 
they  could  not  control ;  they  spoke  incoherently  and 
irregularly;  to  the  most  part  of  those  assembled, 
unintelligibly." 

Later,  in  the  discourse  he  observes,  "  The  misfortune 
is  that  men  mistake  this  law  of  their  emotions;  and 
the  fatal  error  is,  when  having  found  spiritual  feelings 
existing  in  connection,  and  associated,  with  fleshly 
sensations,  men  expect  by  the  mere  irritation  of  the 
emotions  of  the  frame  to  reproduce  those  high  and 
glorious  feelings.  You  might  conceive  the  recipients 
of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  acting  under  this 
delusion  ;  it  is  conceivable  that  having  observed  certain 
bodily  phenomena — for  instance,  incoherent  utterances 
and  thrilled  sensibilities  coexisting  with  those  sub- 
lime spiritualities — they  might  have  endeavoured,  by 
a  repetition  of  those  incoherencies,  to  obtain  a  fresh 
descent  of  the  Spirit.  In  fact,  this  was  exactly  what 
was  tried  in  after  ages  of  the  Church.  In  those  events 
of  Church  history  which  are  denominated  revivals,  in 
the  camp  of  the  Methodist  and  the  Ranter,  a  direct 
attempt  was  made  to  arouse  the  emotions  by  excit- 
ing addresses  and  vehement  language.  Convulsions, 
shrieks,  and  violent  emotions  were  produced,  and  the 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  139 


unfortunate  victims  of  this  mistaken  attempt  to  pro- 
duce the  cause  by  the  effect,  fancied  themselves,  and 
were  pronounced  by  others,  converted.  Now  the  mis- 
fortune is,  that  this  delusion  is  the  more  easy  from 
the  fact  that  the  results  of  the  two  kinds  of  causes 
resemble  each  other." 

What  is  infinitely  more  obvious,  and  perhaps  as 
great  a  misfortune,  is  the  result  of  this  method  of 
interpretation.  A  lenient  way  of  stating  this  result 
is  to  point  out  that  Mary  Bird  has  never,  even  in  a 
symbolical  sense,  been  canonised.  The  Methodists  are 
a  practical  folk,  but  they  would  do  themselves  no  harm 
if  they  copied  Catholic  tradition  by  honouring  the 
memory  of  that  devoted  girl.1 

Like  their  successors,  the  early  Methodists  were  not 
insensible  to  the  worth  of  strenuous  action — one  of 
the  chief  differences  that  developed  themselves  between 
the  daughter  Methodism  and  the  parent  Moravianism. 
Wesley,  a  man  of  active  and  sanguine  temperament, 
would  never  have  dreamed  of  posing  as  a  victim,  and 
many  of  his  disciples — John  Nelson,  for  instance — 
would  have  scorned  an  appeal  ad  misericordiam. 
Methodist  critics  have  shown  themselves  far  too 
squeamish  towards  Southey  for  dwelling  on  the  joy 
with  which  Whitefield,  Nelson,  and  others  anticipated 
afflictions.  This  joy  resembled  the  joy  of  battle,  and 
explains  the  snuff  of  contempt  with  which  Wesley 
alludes  to  the  behaviour  of  certain  commanders  at  the 
taking  of  St.  Philip's  Fort  by  the  French.  A  force  of 
nearly  four  thousand  British  soldiers  were  eager  to 
drive  out  the  enemy  and  could  have  done  it  in  an 

1  The  protomartyr  of  Methodism  is  said  to  have  been  William  Seward, 
stoned  to  death  at  Monmouth,  in  1741. 


140        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 

hour,  but  they  were  told  the  fort  was  surrendered  and 
ordered  to  cease  firing.  "  Oh,  human  justice ! "  ex- 
claims Wesley,  "  one  great  man  is  shot,  and  another  is 
made  a  lord  ! " 

In  his  Journal  Wesley  has  given  us  copious  extracts 
from  the  correspondence  of  pious  campaigners  in  the 
Low  Countries.  These  letters,  evidently  truthful  and 
sincere,  prove  that,  for  gallantry  and  discipline,  the 
canting  redcoats  could  not  be  surpassed.  Methodist 
soldiers  knew  how  to  fight,  because  they  knew  how 
to  die.  It  is  so  to-day.  There  are  a  great  many 
Methodists  in  the  British  army,  and  General  Sir 
W.  F.  Gatacre  recently  expressed  the  wish  that  there 
were  more.  Lord  Wolseley  also,  it  is  understood,  takes 
considerable  interest  in  Methodist  "  homes,"  and  fully 
appreciates  Methodist  valour. 

In  Wesley's  time  the  spiritual  foe,  though  hardly 
from  patriotic  motives,  tried  to  press  Nelson,  one 
of  his  preachers,  into  the  army,  and  Maxfielcl, 
another  of  his  preachers,  into  the  navy.  Kid- 
napping was,  in  these  instances,  equivalent  to  trans- 
portation, the  object  being  to  get  rid  of  social  pests. 
These  saucy  attempts  to  enrich  the  services  failed. 

A  third  preacher  familiar  with  war's  alarms  was 
Alexander  Mather,  a  Scotsman,  of  whom  it  is  written 
that  he  grew  up  "  an  utter  stranger  to  the  vices 
common  among  men."  One  must  assume  that  this 
exemplary  young  man — an  Israelite  indeed — was  some- 
how persuaded  of  the  justice  of  the  Pretender's  claim, 
for  he  joined  a  party  of  rebels  and  was  present  at  the 
battle  of  Culloden.  Fleeing  homewards  after  the  rout, 
he  was  met  by  his  anxious  mother,  but  his  father, 
highly  indignant  at  the  escapade,  not  only  shut  the 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS 


141 


door  in  his  face,  but  informed  against  him.  Never- 
theless, he  escaped  the  gallows,  and  after  less  romantic 
adventures  as  a  baker,  became  first  a  local,  and  then  a 
travelling,  preacher,  under  Wesley. 

Thus  we  are  brought  to  the  highly  interesting  and 
highly  important  topic  of  the  relations  between  Method- 
ism and  the  established  forms  of  government,  or,  in 
other  words,  to  the  political  aspect  of  the  movement. 
Now  it  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  when  he 
was  in  Georgia,  Wesley  was  suspected  of  popery.  The 
ground  of  the  suspicion  was  the  severity  of  his  mode 
of  life,  and  certainly  his  rigorous  self  -  discipline 
accorded  better  with  the  rules  of  some  Roman  Catholic 
orders  than  with  the  common  practice  of  the  Church 
of  England.  When  he  was  in  Bristol  in  1739  a  report 
was  current  that  he  was  a  papist,  if  not  a  Jesuit.  The 
report  may  have  come  from  America,  or  it  may  have 
arisen  on  the  spot.  Anyhow,  the  charge  perplexed 
Wesley,  who  could  not  reconcile  two  such  opposites 
as  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith — Luther's 
doctrine,  which  he  adopted  and  taught — and  the 
popeiy  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  the  multitude  does  not 
quibble  over  points  like  these.  Plain  people,  unversed 
in  theological  distinctions,  perceived  one  thing  clearly 
— that  Wesley  was  spurned  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
Church,  and  on  the  other  hand  by  Dissent.  He  was 
not  an  unbeliever,  and  therefore  he  must,  by  a  pro- 
cess of  exhaustion,  be  a  Roman  Catholic — or  on  the 
way  to  becoming  one.  It  was  natural  to  surmise  that 
community  of  suffering  must  tend  to  produce  corre- 
spondence of  sympathy.  Sentiment  regarding  him 
ranged  from  this  sort  of  vague  mistrust  to  the  definite 


142        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


assumption  that  he  was  a  secret  and  most  able  emissary 
of  the  Court  of  Rome,  engaged  in  a  dangerous  pro- 
paganda. Many  years  later  when  Wesley  was  in 
Ireland,  and  preaching  after  his  wont,  some  one 
inquired  whether  he  was  not  a  papist.  "  No,"  said  a 
priest,  who  was  present,  "  I  wish  he  was." 

A  papist  was  ipso  facto  an  enemy  of  England,  or, 
at  least,  of  the  existing  rdgime.  The  Pretender  was 
a  papist,  and  anyone  belonging,  or  suspected  of  belong- 
ing, to  the  Church  of  Rome,  figured  in  the  popular 
imagination  as  a  sinister  object  prowling  in  a  dark 
cloud  of  religious  mystery  and  political  conspiracy. 
He  was  not  a  healthy  member  of  the  commonwealth, 
a  trusty  liege  of  the  Crown  of  England.  His  move- 
ments needed  watching.  He  might  be  Guy  Fawkes. 
The  character  bestowed  on  the  Methodists  has  been 
excellently  set  forth  by  Wesley  himself.  They  were 
"  fellows  not  fit  to  live ;  papists,  heretics,  traitors ; 
conspirators  against  their  king  and  country." 

The  habit  of  field-preaching  appeared  to  some  critics 
incompatible  with  the  safety  and  honour  of  the  realm. 
It  afforded  the  enemies  of  the  established  Government 
just  such  opportunities  as  they  wanted.  Evil-minded 
men,  by  meeting  together  in  the  fields  under  pretence 
of  religion,  might  raise  riots  and  tumults.  By  meeting 
secretly  they  might  carry  on  private  cabals  against  the 
Government.  The  Methodists  themselves  were  perhaps 
harmless  and  loyal  people,  but  what  if  they  were  ? 
Disloyal  and  seditious  persons  might  easily  lurk  in 
that  vast  congregation  of  eighty  thousand  attending 
Whitefield's  ministrations,  not  a  tenth  of  whom  he 
could  be  reasonably  expected  to  know. 

Such  apprehensions  do  not  seem   to  have  been 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  143 


grounded  in  fact.  At  any  rate  Wesley  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  making  out  an  excellent  case  in  reply.  He 
declared  that  the  assertions — and  the  eighty  thousand, 
he  says,  might  well  have  been  eighty  millions — were 
made  ad  movendam  invidiam,  to  excite  ill-will ;  and  in 
this  he  was  probably  right. 

Wesley's  Journal  during  the  '45  breathes  the 
keenest  desire  for  the  king's  success,  but,  owing  in 
part  to  these  amiable  Observations  and  the  truthful 
and  considerate  Case  of  the  Methodists,  his  fame  as 
a  rebel  was  spread  through  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
At  Tolcarn,  in  Cornwall,  he  was  informed  that  the 
churchwardens  and  constables,  and  all  the  heads  of  the 
parish  were  waiting  for  him  at  the  top  of  the  hill. 
Wesley  rode  on,  and  a  gentleman  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  I 
would  speak  with  you  a  little ;  let  us  ride  to  the  gate." 
They  did  so,  and  the  stranger  observed,  "Sir,  I  will 
tell  you  the  ground  of  this.  All  the  gentlemen  of 
these  parts  say  that  you  have  been  a  long  time  in 
France  and  Spain,  and  are  now  sent  hither  by  the 
Pretender;  and  that  these  societies  are  to  join  him." 
"  Nay,  surely,"  exclaimed  Wesley, "  '  all  the  gentlemen  in 
these  parts '  will  not  lie  against  their  own  conscience  ! " 

Late  in  the  year  Wesley  was  in  Cheshire,  where  he 
learnt  a  Dr.  C.  had  been  industriously  circulating  the 
report  that  "  Mr.  Wesley  was  now  with  the  Pretender, 
near  Edinburgh."  The  calumniated  preacher  at  once 
wrote  to  this  well-informed  gossip,  and  expressed  the 
hope  that  in  future  he  would  pay  more  regard  to  truth. 

Methodism,  however,  had  less  to  fear  from  the 
influence  of  high  politics  than  from  the  meddling 
impertinence  of  J ustice  Shallow  and  the  pranks  of  the 
beadles.    The  following  vignette  of  Wesley  in  old  age 


144        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


will  give  some  idea  of  the  indignities  to  which  he  was 
subjected  by  the  minions  of  the  law.  "  Passing  on 
a  certain  occasion  a  considerable  thoroughfare,  I  was  a 
spectator  of  the  different  treatment  preachers  of  the 
gospel  experience  in  different  situations.  Being  stopped 
by  a  crowd,  the  voice  and  zeal  of  an  itinerant  holder- 
forth  excited  my  attention.  I  listened  to  his  extempore 
harangue,  which  was  animated,  sensible,  and  well 
delivered.  His  efforts  were  fervent,  his  language 
clear,  and  his  arguments,  drawn  from  heaven  and  hell, 
death  and  judgment,  were  affecting.  The  multitude 
was  motionless  and  silent,  when  two  beadles  made 
their  appearance,  suddenly  laid  hands  on  the  preacher, 
and  led  him  off  (I  think  illegally)  in  disgrace.  From 
the  same  spot  a  boy  might  have  thrown  a  stone  against 
a  church  which  affords  a  sinecure  of  eight  hundred 
pounds  a  year  to  a  young  Oxonian,  who  is  an  excellent 
shot,  and  rides  the  best  gelding  in  a  neighbouring 
county." 

The  bugbear  of  beadledom  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the 
many  points  of  contact  between  the  itinerant  preacher 
and  the  strolling  player,  of  whose  existence  in 
dishabille  the  satirist  writes : 

"  The  strolling  tribe,  a  despicable  race, 
Like  wand'ring  Arabs,  shift  from  place  to  place : 
Vagrants  by  law,  to  justice  open  laid, 
They  tremble,  of  the  beadle's  lash  afraid  ; 
And  fawning,  cringe,  for  wretched  means  of  life, 
To  madam  may'ress  or  his  worship's  wife." 

An  interesting  essay  might  be  indited  on  the  relations 
between  Methodism  and  the  stage.  It  is  hardly  need- 
ful to  remind  the  reader  of  Whitefield's  early  predi- 
lection, but  it  is  rather  odd  to  find  that  John  Wesley, 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  145 


the  incarnation  of  godly  sincerity,  struck  contem- 
poraries as  attitudinising.  In  1767,  Wesley  preached 
in  Lady  Huntingdon's  chapel  at  Bath  to  a  select  con- 
gregation, which  included  members  of  the  nobility. 
Among  the  rest  was  Horace  Walpole,  who  speaks  of 
the  preacher  as  "  a  clean,  elderly  man,  fresh-coloured, 
wondrous  clever,  but  as  evidently  an  actor  as  Garrick." 

The  histrionic  elements  in  Methodism  inevitabl}' 
drew  the  attention  of  fashion,  and  it  seemed  at  one 
time  as  if  the  movement  would  become  a  veritable 
'•  craze."  Whitefield  was  by  nature  far  better  qualified 
to  succeed  with  great  personages  than  Wesley,  who, 
Tory  as  he  was,  waxed  impatient  with  giggling  ladies 
and  "  things  called  gentlemen,"  and  was  never  surprised 
at  any  exhibition  of  bad  manners,  whex-e  such  were  con- 
cerned. Whitefield  was  more  tolerant,  less  critical. 
If  he  could  sweep  an  elegant  woman  into  his  net, 
or  rather  that  of  the  gospel,  he  deemed  it  an  achieve- 
ment worthy  of  some  trouble.  Was  it  not  said  with 
divine  authority  that  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  The  chief  period  of  this 
aristocratic  "  craze  "  for  Methodism  was  approximately 
the  middle  of  the  century.  Whitefield,  who  divided 
his  activities  between  England  and  America,  was 
now  in  the  former  country.  Chaplain  to  the  Countess 
of  Huntingdon, — most  eminent  of  Methodist  dames,  and 
one  who  aspired  to  the  character  of  heresiarch,  as 
heresy  was  understood  by  Samuel  Wesley,  the  younger, 
— the  eloquent  preacher  formed  many  connections  with 
the  haute  noblesse,  whose  morals  badly  needed  mending. 

In  a  brace  of  letters,  dated  1749,  Walpole,  who  had 
a  keen  eye  for  foibles,  discourses  as  follows :  "  Method- 
10 


46        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


ism  in  the  metropolis  is  more  fashionable  than  any- 
thing but  brag.  The  women  play  very  deep  at  both ; 
as  deep,  it  is  much  suspected,  as  the  matrons  of  Rome 
did  at  the  mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea.  If  gracious 
Anne  were  alive,  she  would  make  an  admirable 
defendress  of  the  new  faith,  and  build  fifty  more 
churches  for  the  female  proselytes."  Again,  he  says : 
"  If  you  ever  think  of  returning  to  England,  you  must 
prepare  yourself  with  Methodism.  This  sort  increases 
as  fast  almost  as  any  religious  nonsense  ever  did.  Lady 
Frances  Shirley  has  chosen  this  way  of  bestowing  the 
dregs  of  her  beauty ;  and  Mr.  Lyttelton  is  very  near 
making  the  same  sacrifice  of  the  dregs  of  all  those 
characters  he  has  worn.  The  Methodists  love  your  big 
sinners,  as  proper  subjects  to  work  on;  and,  indeed, 
they  have  a  plentiful  harvest.  Flagrancy  was  never 
more  in  fashion  ;  drinking  is  at  the  highest  wine-mark ; 
and  gaming  is  joined  with  it  so  violently  that,  at  the 
last  Newmarket  meeting,  a  bank  bill  was  thrown 
down,  and  nobody  immediately  claiming  it,  they  agreed 
to  give  it  to  a  man  standing  by." 

Methodism,  however,  was  a  cult  which,  though  it 
might  serve  the  rich  as  a  transient  craze,  remained  as 
a  lasting  heritage  of  the  poor.  An  acute  observer  of 
men  and  things — the  author  of  Lacon — remarks  :  "  In 
addressing  a  multitude,  we  must  remember  to  follow 
the  advice  that  Cromwell  gave  his  soldiers,  1  Fire 
low!'  This  is  the  great  art  of  the  Methodists."  But 
Methodism  did  not  stop  there.  It  made  preaching 
friars  of  its  converts,  and  after  they  were  dead,  placed 
them  in  its  calendar  of  saints.  It  has  lavished  hero- 
worship  on  eccentric  persons  like  Billy  Bray — God's 
fools.     It  is  probable  that  no  religious  community  can 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  147 


boast  a  richer  stock  of  folk-lore  in  proportion  to  its 
length  of  life  than  the  various  branches  of  Methodism. 
How  far  this  lore  is  calculated,  as  fact  or  fiction,  to 
attract  the  world  in  general,  it  is  hard  to  decide.  The 
element  of  association  is  important,  but  much  depends 
on  the  mode  of  presentation,  on  the  author,  the  artist. 
Within  the  fold  characterisations  of  old-world  Method- 
ism, in  the  form  of  tales  and  idylls,  obtain  an  immense 
vogue.  Mr.  Pearse  has  achieved  notable  successes  in 
this  direction.  Of  late  years  Mr.  Lowry,  Mr.  Harry 
Lindsay,  and  others  have  endeavoured  to  win  suffrages 
for  Methodist  literary  art  outside  the  pale. 

This  love  of  homeliness,  of  blended  quaintness  and 
kindliness,  resulting  in  the  glorification  of  odd,  obscure, 
illiterate  people,  goes  back  to  the  primitive  age  of 
Methodist  history.  Hannah  More  has  dealt  with  the 
"  Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain,"  and  there  were  other 
prophets  of  about  his  standing.  The  spiritual  authority 
of  these  teachers  sometimes  conflicted  with  their 
quotidianus  usus,  with  the  duties  and  relations  of 
their  secular  calling.  The  opponents  of  Methodism 
were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity, 
and  lampooned  the  professors  of  the  new  religion  in 
verse  and  prose.  Smollett's  novel,  The  Expedition 
of  Humphry  Clinker,  contains  many  allusions  to 
Methodism  in  connection  with  the  aristocracy. 
Among  the  rest  is  the  following  excerpt  from  a  letter 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Sir  Watkin  Phillips, 
of  Jesus  College,  Oxford  :— 

"Turning  down  a  narrow  lane,  behind  Long  Acre, 
we  perceived  a  crowd  of  people  standing  at  a  door : 
which,  it  seems,  opened  into  a  kind  of  Methodist 
meeting,  and  were  informed  that  a  footman  was  then 


148        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


holding  forth  to  the  congregation  within.  Curious  to 
see  this  phenomenon,  we  squeezed  into  the  place  with 
much  difficulty  ;  and  who  should  this  preacher  be  but 
the  identical  Humphry  Clinker !  He  had  finished  his 
sermon  and  given  out  a  psalm,  the  first  stave  of  which 
he  sung  with  peculiar  graces.  But  if  we  were 
astonished  to  see  Clinker  in  the  pulpit,  we  were 
altogether  confounded  at  finding  all  the  females  of  our 
family  among  the  audience.  There  was  Lady  Griskin, 
Mrs.  Tabitha  Bramble,  Mrs.  Winifred  Jenkins,  my  sister 
Liddy,  and  Mr.  Barton,  and  all  of  them  joined  in  the 
psalmody  with  strong  marks  of  devotion. 

"  I  could  hardly  keep  my  gravity  on  this  ludicrous 
occasion,  but  old  Squaretoes  was  differently  affected. 
The  first  thing- that  struck  him  was  the  presumption 
of  his  lacquey,  whom  he  commanded  to  come  down 
with  such  as  air  of  authority  as  Humphry  did  not 
think  proper  to  disregard.  He  descended  immediately, 
and  all  the  people  were  in  commotion.  Barton  looked 
exceedingly  sheepish,  Lady  Griskin  flirted  her  fan, 
Mrs.  Tabby  groaned  in  spirit,  Liddy  changed  counten- 
ance, and  Mrs.  Jenkins  sobbed  as  if  her  heart  were 
breaking.  My  uncle,  with  a  sneer,  asked  pardon  of 
the  ladies  for  having  interrupted  their  devotion,  saying 
that  he  had  particular  business  with  the  preacher, 
whom  he  ordered  to  call  a  hackney  coach  

"  When  we  arrived  at  our  lodgings,  he  commanded 
Mr.  Clinker  to  attend  him  upstairs,  and  spoke  to 
him  in  these  words :  '  Since  you  are  called  upon  by 
the  Spirit  to  preach  and  to  teach,  it  is  high  time  to  lay 
aside  the  livery  of  an  earthly  master;  and,  for  my 
part,  I  am  unworthy  to  have  an  apostle  in  my  service.' 
'I  hope,'  said  Humphry,  'I  have  not  failed  in  my 


SCANDAL  OF  THE  CROSS  149 

duty  to  your  honour.  I  should  be  a  vile  wretch  if 
I  did,  considering  the  misery  from  which  your 
charity  and  compassion  relieved  me.  But  having  an 
admonition  of  the  Spirit' — 'An  admonition  of  the 
Devil ! '  cried  the  Squire,  in  a  passion.  '  What 
admonition,  you  blockhead !  What  right  has  such  a 
fellow  as  you  to  set  up  for  a  reformer  ? '  '  Begging 
your  honour's  pardon,'  replied  Clinker,  '  may  not  the 
light  of  God's  grace  shine  upon  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant  in  their  humility,  as  well  as  upon  the  wealthy, 
and  the  philosopher  in  all  his  pride  of  human  learn- 
ing ? '  '  What  you  imagine  to  be  the  new  light  of 
grace,'  said  his  master,  '  I  take  to  be  a  deceitful 
vapour,  glimmering  through  a  crack  in  your  upper 
storey.  In  a  word,  Mr.  Clinker,  I  will  have  no  light  in 
my  family  but  what  pays  the  king's  taxes,  unless  it  be 
the  light  of  reason,  which  you  don't  pretend  to  follow.'  " 

This  was  a  game  in  which  a  man  of  the  world,  with 
a  decided  bias  against  the  movement,  appeared  from 
the  outset  to  hold  a  winning  advantage.  Of  all  the 
weapons  with  which  Methodism  could  be  assailed, 
ridicule  was  the  keenest,  the  easiest,  and  in  a  sense  the 
most  just.  Nascent  causes,  like  rising  politicians, 
cannot,  and  perhaps  should  not,  escape  this  ordeal.  It 
is  a  test  of  sense,  and  strength,  and  sincerity.  Quite 
early  in  his  career  Wesley  engaged  in  a  passage  of 
arms  with  the  celebrated  Beau  Nash,  and  the  upshot 
proved  that  a  strong,  sincere,  and  sensible  man,  with 
an  old  woman  as  ally,  could  vanquish  so  severe 
an  arbiter  elegantiarum,  so  famous  a  master  of 
ceremonies  as  the  King  of  Bath. 

"  There  was  a  great  expectation  at  Bath  of  what  a 
noted  man  was  to  do  to  me  there ;  and  I  was  much 


ISO        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


entreated  not  to  preach,  because  no  one  knew  what 
might  happen.  By  this  report  I  also  gained  a  much 
larger  audience,  among  whom  were  many  of  the  rich 
and  great.  I  told  them  plainly  the  Scripture  had  con- 
cluded them  all  under  sin — high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
one  with  another.  Many  of  them  seemed  to  be  a 
little  surprised,  and  were  sinking  apace  into  serious- 
ness, when  their  champion  appeared,  and  coming  close 
to  me,  asked  by  what  authority  I  did  those  things.  I 
replied,  '  By  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  conveyed 
to  me  by  the  (now)  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  when 
he  laid  hands  upon  me,  and  said,  "  Take  thou  authority 
to  preach  the  gospel."'  He  said,  'This  is  contrary 
to  Act  of  Parliament.  This  is  a  conventicle.'  I 
answered,  '  Sir,  the  conventicles  mentioned  in  that  Act 
(as  the  preamble  shows)  are  seditious  meetings,  but 
this  is  not  such.  Here  is  no  shadow  of  sedition; 
therefore  it  is  not  contrary  to  that  Act.'  He  replied, 
'I  say  it  is,  and  besides,  your  preaching  frightens 
people  out  of  their  wits.'  '  Sir,  did  you  hear  me 
preach  ? '  '  No.'  '  How  then  can  you  judge  of  what 
you  never  heard  ? '  '  Sir,  by  common  report.' 
'  Common  report  is  not  enough.  Give  me  leave,  sir, 
to  ask,  Is  not  your  name  Nash?'  'My  name  is 
Nash.'  'Sir,  I  dare  not  judge  of  you  by  common 
report.  I  think  it  is  not  enough  to  judge  by.'  Here 
he  paused  awhile,  and  having  recovered  himself,  said, 
'I  desire  to  know  what  this  people  comes  here  for.' 
On  which  one  replied,  '  Sir,  leave  him  to  me.  Let  an 
old  woman  answer  him.  You,  Mr.  Nash,  take  care  of 
your  body.  We  take  care  of  our  souls,  and  for  the 
food  of  our  souls  we  come  here.'  He  replied  not  a 
word,  but  walked  away." 


CHAPTER  VI 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES 

Middleton's  Free  Enquiry — A  Mediaeval  Miracle — An  Eighteenth- 
Century  Miracle  —  "Methodism  Displayed"  —  Wesley  on 
Miracles — Wesley  on  Enthusiasm — A  Parallel  from  Plato — 
Sortilege — Karlstadt  and  Bell — Quietism  and  Methodism — 
Christian  Perfection — Renan's  Philosophy — Amusements — 
Collision  with  the  Moravians — Courtships — Marriage. 

From  an  orthodox  Protestant  standpoint  it  is  hard  to 
conceive  a  more  mischievous  work  than  Dr.  Conyers 
Middleton's  Free  Enquiry,  published  in  1749.  The 
object  of  this  work  was  to  minimise  the  miraculous 
element  in  religion,  to  confine  it  within  the  narrowest 
historical  limits ;  or,  failing  that,  to  concede  the  Roman 
claims.  In  seeking  to  attain  this  object,  the  author 
found  it  necessary  to  introduce  many  passages  de- 
rogatory to  primitive  Christianity.  The  point  of  view 
is  that  of  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  and  of  Kingsley's 
Hypatia.  We  encounter  a  low  and  pestilent  super- 
stition, interpreted  by  unsympathetic  observers.  "  The 
Christian  workers  of  miracles  were  always  charged 
with  imposture  by  their  adversaries.  Lucian  tells  us, 
'  Whenever  any  crafty  juggler  went  to  the  Christians, 
he  grew  rich  immediately.'  And  Celsus  represents  the 
Christian  wonder-workers  as   mere  vagabonds  and 

151 


152        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


common  cheats,  who  rambled  about  to  fairs  and 
markets."  Wesley  was  so  moved  with  indignation 
that  he  answered  Middleton's  production  in  a  treatise 
of  considerable  length,  abounding  in  tart  rejoinders 
and  pungent  sarcasms. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  never  abandoned  its  belief 
in  the  possibility  of  miracles ;  and  the  truth  or  false- 
hood of  alleged  miraculous  occurrences  was  one  of  the 
questions  that  divided  Protestants  and  papists  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation.  The  following  episode  in 
the  life  of  Guillaume  Farel,  a  noble  Frenchman,  is 
borrowed  from  D'Aubigne  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing an  analogy. 

"  Four  leagues  to  the  south  of  Gap,  near  Tallard,  on 
a  hill  that  rises  above  the  impetuous  stream  of  the 
Durance,  was  a  place  in  great  repute,  named  Sainte 
Croix  (holy  cross).  William  was  only  seven  or  eight 
years  old  when  his  father  and  mother  resolved  to 
take  him  thither  on  a  pilgrimage.  '  The  cross  in  that 
place,'  they  told  him,  '  is  made  of  the  very  wood  on 
which  Christ  was  crucified." 

"  The  family  began  their  journey,  and  at  last  reached 
the  highly  venerated  cross,  before  which  they  all  fell 
prostrate.  After  gazing  for  a  time  on  the  sacred  wood 
and  the  copper  of  the  cross,  the  latter  being  made  (as 
the  priest  told  them)  of  the  basin  in  which  Christ 
washed  His  apostles'  feet,  the  pilgrims  turned  their 
eyes  to  a  small  crucifix  attached  to  the  cross.  '  When 
the  devils  send  us  hail  and  thunder,'  continued 
the  priest,  'this  crucifix  moves  about  so  violently 
that  it  seems  to  get  loose  from  the  cross,  as  if 
desirous  of  running  at  the  devil,  and  it  continues 
throwing  out  sparks  of  fire  against  the  storm.  If 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  153 


it  were  not  for  this,  nothing  would  be  left  upon 
earth.' 

"The  pious  pilgrims  were  deeply  moved  by  the 
account  of  these  wonderful  prodigies.  '  No  one,' 
continued  the  priest,  'sees  or  knows  aught  of  these 
things  except  myself  and  this  man.'  The  pilgrims 
turned  their  heads,  and  saw  a  strange-looking  person 
standing  near  them.  '  It  was  frightful  to  look  at  him,' 
said  Farel.  White  scales  covered  the  pupils  of  his 
eyes,  'whether  they  were  there  in  reality,  or  Satan 
made  them  appear  so.'  This  extraordinary  man,  whom 
the  incredulous  denominated  '  the  priest's  wizard,'  on 
being  appealed  to  by  the  latter,  immediately  replied 
that  the  prodigy  was  true." 

If  Wesley  had  lived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  it  is  as 
absolutely  certain  as  anything  human  can  be  that  he 
would  have  implicitly  received  this  amazing  narrative. 
In  his  Journal  for  1761  he  solemnly  records  his  belief 
in  a  narrative  not  less  amazing.  Jonas  Rushford,  a 
boy  of  fourteen,  told  him  that,  a  year  before,  he  had 
been  requested  by  two  neighbours  to  go  with  them 
to  a  Mr.  Crowther's  at  Skipton.  A  man  had  been 
missing  for  twenty  days,  and  Mr.  Crowther  declined  to 
talk  about  him.  He,  however,  commanded  these  two 
persons  to  bring  a  boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  they 
brought  Jonas  Rushford. 

When  they  entered,  Crowther  was  engaged,  harm- 
lessly or  otherwise,  in  reading  a  book,  but  he  dropped 
the  book,  put  Jonas  to  bed,  placed  a  looking-glass 
in  his  hand,  and  covered  him  up.  The  boy  was 
then  asked  whom  he  would  like  to  see.  He  replied 
"  My  mother."  Presently  he  saw  her.  She  had 
a  lock  of  wool  in  her  hand,  and  was  standing  in 


154        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


the  very  place  and  dressed  in  the  very  clothes  of 
life,  as  was  afterwards  learnt  from  the  apparition 
herself. 

Jonas  was  now  bidden  to  look  for  the  man  that  was 
missing — a  neighbour  of  theirs.  He  looked  and  saw  him 
riding  towards  Idle.  He  was  very  drunk.  Stopping  at 
the  alehouse,  he  drank  two  pints  more,  and  pulled  out 
a  guinea,  intending  to  get  it  changed.  Two  men  stood 
by — one  a  big,  the  other  a  little  man.  They  went 
on  and  procured  two  hedge-stakes.  When  he  reached 
the  top  of  the  hill  on  Windle  Common,  they  pulled 
the  drunkard  off  his  horse,  killed  him  and  threw 
the  body  into  a  coal-pit.  Jonas  deposed  that  he 
beheld  everything  as  plainly  as  if  he  had  been  by, 
and  that,  if  he  saw  the  men,  he  should  know  them 
again. 

They  returned  to  Bradford  the  same  night,  and  on 
the  morrow  the  boy  repaired  with  his  neighbours  to 
the  spot  where  the  man  of  the  mirror  had  been  killed, 
and  pointed  out  the  pit  into  which  the  body  had  been 
thrown.  A  man  thereupon  descended,  and  lo  and  be- 
hold !  the  corpse  was  brought  to  the  surface.  It  was 
exactly  as  Jonas  had  told  them.  A  handkerchief  was 
tied  about  the  dead  man's  mouth,  and  fastened  behind 
his  neck. 

"  Is  it  improbable,  or  flatly  impossible,"  asks  Wesley, 
"  when  all  the  circumstances  are  considered,  that  this 
should  be  all  pure  fiction  ?  They  that  can  believe 
this  may  believe  a  man's  getting  into  a  bottle." 
Probably  he  considered  this  one  of  those  "lying 
wonders,  diabolical  miracles,  or  works  beyond  the 
virtue  of  natural  causes,  wrought  by  the  power 
of  evil  spirits,"  which  he  not  only  accepted  him- 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  155 


self,  but  received  for  others — just  as  if  they  were 
axioms. 

The  truth  is  that  Wesley  was  so  impressed  with  the 
reality,  universality,  and  constant  operation  of  spiritual 
agencies,  that  material  obstacles  dwindled  away  to 
nought.  He  had  hardly  any  sense  of  antecedent  im- 
probability, but  the  likelihood  of  an  event  being  super- 
natural was,  in  his  eyes,  much  enhanced  where  moral 
considerations  came  into  play,  where  the  kingdom  of 
God  was  served,  where  Methodism  obtained  striking 
attestation  of  divine  approval  and  protection.  On 
November  2,  1743,  there  was  published  at  Newcastle 
the  following  advertisement : — 

For  the  benefit  op  Mr.  Este. 
By  the  Edinburgh  Company  of  Comedians,  on 
Friday,  November  4, 
will  be  acted  a  Comedy,  called 
THE  CONSCIOUS  LOVERS ; 
To  which  will  be  added  a  Farce,  called 
TRICK  UPON  TRICK,  or  METHODISM  DISPLAYED. 

This  might  bs  described  as  a  test  case.  If  the  Al- 
mighty saw  fit  to  intervene  and  express  by  some  overt 
act  His  condemnation  of  the  procedure,  then  Methodism, 
still  in  its  first  youth,  would  derive  encouragement 
from  the  token,  and  go  on  its  way  rejoicing.  Wesley 
has  not  stated  whether  he  hoped  for  such  recognition 
— the  ways  of  Providence  are  mysterious — but  he  was 
able  to  set  down  some  remarkable  occurrences  as  having 
taken  place  in  the  course  of  the  performance. 


156        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


An  immense  crowd  of  spectators  assembled  in  the 
Moot  Hall.  Of  the  fifteen  hundred  people  computed 
to  be  present,  some  hundreds  occupied  rows  of  seats  on 
the  stage.  The  play  had  no  sooner  begun  to  be  acted 
than  these  seats  collapsed,  precipitating  the  occupants 
several  feet.  Nobody,  however,  was  hurt,  and,  as  the 
audience  remained  cool,  the  play  was  resumed.  In  the 
middle  of  the  second  act,  the  shilling  seats  gave  a  crack, 
and  sank  some  inches.  A  partial  panic  ensued,  and, 
amidst  shrieks  and  confusion,  troops  of  people  left 
the  hall,  and  did  not  return.  The  actors  went  on. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  third  act,  the  stage 
sank  about  six  inches,  and  the  players  beat  a  retreat. 
They  again  appeared,  but  before  they  reached  the 
end  of  the  act,  sustained  a  third  check.  Without 
a  note  of  warning,  the  sixpenny  seats  fell  to  the 
ground. 

The  audience  was  now  fairly  alarmed.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  many  had  been  crushed  to  death.  The 
notion  proved  false,  and  as  two  or  three  hundred  still 
lingered  in  the  hall,  Mr.  Este  came  on  the  stage,  and 
announced  his  determination  that  the  farce  should 
be  played.  He  was  in  the  act  of  speaking,  when 
the  stage  sank  another  six  inches.  Thereupon  he 
retired  in  great  haste,  and  the  remains  of  the  audience 
made  for  the  doors. 

"  Which  is  most  surprising,"  says  Wesley,  "  that  those 
players  acted  this  farce  the  next  week,  or  that  some 
hundreds  of  people  came  again  to  see  it  ? "  If  Wesley 
did  not  mean  that  persons  guilty  of  such  presumption 
were  challenging  the  fate  of  the  unhappy  creatures  on 
whom  the  Tower  of  Siloam  fell,  he  clearly  implied  that 
they  ought  to  have  accepted  the  successive  interrup- 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES 


157 


tions  as  proofs  of  their  own  folly  and  wickedness  in 
patronising  the  entertainment.  Probably,  however,  he 
intended  both  meanings. 

To-day  the  verdict  will  be  that  the  playgoers  were 
right,  and  that  Wesley  was  wrong.  They,  it  will  be 
said,  showed  common  sense  in  not  permitting  them- 
selves to  be  unduly  alarmed  by  structural  defects  which 
might  be  remedied,  or  their  pleasures  to  be  defeated 
by  accidents  that  need  not  recur.  Wesley,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  superstitious,  and  did  not  allow  for 
coincidence.  Anyhow,  he  was  consistent,  which  many 
of  his  critics  are  not.  Wesley  would  not  have 
liked  to  be  called  superstitious  —  he  was  enough  a 
child  of  the  age  for  that  —  but  he  was  always 
far  more  afraid  of  being  ungodly  than  of  being 
credulous. 

Christianity  rested  on  faith,  and  Wesley  could  not 
see  why  faith  should  be  exercised  in  respect  of  events 
that  occurred  more  than  a  thousand  years  before,  and 
not  in  respect  of  contemporary  incidents.  He  deemed 
it  just  as  reasonable  to  admit  Jonas  Rushford's  stoiy 
as  to  admit  the  very  similar  story  of  the  Witch  of 
Endor's  interview  with  King  Saul.  There  is  really  no 
logical  halting-place  between  this  attitude  of  frank 
affirmation  and  the  late  Master  of  Balliol's  attitude  of 
pure  negation — miracles  do  not  happen. 

Wesley  did  not  believe  in  a  God  who  was  the  slave 
of  law.  In  his  Principles  of  a  Methodist  Farther 
Explained  he  remarks  :  "  I  do  not  know  that  God  hath 
any  way  precluded  Himself  from  thus  exei'ting  His 
sovereign  power,  from  working  miracles  in  any  kind 
or  degree,  in  any  age,  to  the  end  of  the  world.  I  do 
not  recollect  any  scripture  wherein  we  are  taught  that 


158        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


miracles  were  to  be  confined  within  the  limits  either  of 
the  apostolic  or  the  Cyprianic  age ;  or  to  any  period  of 
time,  longer  or  shorter,  even  till  the  restitution  of  all 
things.  I  have  not  observed,  either  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment or  the  New,  any  intimation  at  all  of  this  kind. 
St.  Paul  says,  indeed,  once,  concerning  two  of  the  mira- 
culous gifts  of  the  Spirit  (so,  I  think,  that  text  is 
usually  understood),  '  Whether  there  be  prophecies,  they 
shall  fail,  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease.' 
But  he  does  not  say,  either  that  these  or  any  other 
miracles  shall  cease,  till  faith  or  hope  shall  cease  also, 
till  they  all  be  swallowed  up  in  the  vision  of  God,  and 
love  be  all  in  all." 

Wesley  was  perfectly  conscious  of  the  effect  of  these 
admissions.  He  knew  that,  by  extending  the  practice 
of  faith  to  the  present,  when  others,  more  cautious, 
limited  its  working  to  the  dim  past  or  the  dim  future, 
he  caused  himself  to  be  regarded  as  a  peculiarly  objec- 
tionable sort  of  visionary.  With  his  love  of  logical 
precision,  he  puts  his  opponents'  case  in  the  following 
form : — 

"  He  that  believes  those  are  miraculous  cures  which 
are  not  so,  is  a  rank  enthusiast ;  but 

"  You  believe  those  are  miraculous  cures  which  are 
not  so ;  therefore  you  are  a  rank  enthusiast." 

It  may  be  observed  in  passing  that  the  Methodist 
leader  speaks  with  great  contempt  of  the  general  body 
of  the  clergy.  That  his  severity  was  justified  there 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt,  though  exception  might 
perhaps  be  made  in  favour  of  London.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  it  is  certain  that  few  clerks  in  holy  orders  would 
have  cared  to  try  a  fall  with  Wesley  in  the  palaestra  of 
open  controversy,  and  those  who  did  trusted  more  to 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  159 


ridicule  than  to  logic  or  to  learning.  Wesley  was  not 
merely  dexterous  at  fence,  a  casuist  to  make  black 
white  and  the  worse  to  appear  the  better  reason ;  he 
was  armed  cap-a-pie  with  ecclesiastical  and  general 
lore.  The  masked  criticasters,  who  essayed  the  part 
of  histriomastix  in  the  London  Chronicle  and  other 
journals,  were  flogged  with  enormous  gusto  by  the 
irrepressible  logician.  His  irony  at  times  is  positively 
Socratic. 

"I  was  long  in  hopes  of  seeing  an  answer  to  this 
artful  performance  from  someone  of  more  leisure  as 
well  as  abilities;  and  someone  whose  name  would 
have  recommended  his  work.  For  that  thought  has 
something  of  truth  in  it: 

'  Oh  what  a  tuneful  wonder  seiz'd  the  throng, 

When  Marlhro's  conquering  name  alarm'd  the  foe ! 
Had  Whiznowhisky  led  the  armies  on, 
The  general's  scarecrow  name  had  foil'd  each  blow.' 

However,  who  knows  but  reason  for  once  may  be 
stronger  than  prejudice  ? " 

Now  Methodism  was  then,  and  still  is  in  some 
quarters,  a  synonym  for  ignorance.  Enthusiasm 
was  deemed  incompatible  with  strength  of  mind.  It 
is  not  surprising  therefore  that  Wesley,  who  never 
shrank  from  investigating  facts,  should  devote  a  whole 
sermon  to  the  natural  history  of  this  phenomenon,  with 
which,  contrary  to  his  wishes,  his  name  and  cause  had 
come  to  be  associated.  This,  in  many  respects  model, 
discourse  defines  all  that  the  term  ever  did,  or  ever 
can,  denote.  As  he  justly  remarks,  there  have  been 
attached  to  it  different  significations — significations 
so  different  as  to  be  mutually  exclusive.  Any  large 
dictionary  of  the  language  will  prove  that,  though 


i6o        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


nowadays  the  circumstance  is  apt  to  be  forgotten  by 
reason  of  the  unanimity  that  prevails  in  the  use  of 
the  word.  In  Wesley's  time  the  opposite  was  the  case, 
and  he  has  done  well  to  instance,  for  the  instruction  of 
posterity  as  well  as  for  the  guidance  of  contemporaries, 
the  various  senses  in  which  the  term  might  be  and  was 
employed  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

"  Some  take  it  in  a  good  sense  for  a  divine  impulse 
or  impression,  superior  to  all  the  natural  faculties,  and 
suspending  for  the  time,  either  in  whole  or  in  part, 
both  the  reason  and  the  outward  senses.  In  this 
meaning  of  the  word  both  the  prophets  of  old  and  the 
apostles  were  proper  enthusiasts,  being  at  divers  times 
so  filled  with  the  Spirit  and  so  influenced  by  Him  who 
dwelt  in  their  hearts  that  the  exercise  of  their  own 
reason,  their  senses,  and  all  their  natural  faculties 
being  suspended,  they  were  wholly  actuated  by  God, 
and  '  spake  only '  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

"Others  take  it  in  an  indifferent  sense,  such  as  is 
neither  morally  good  nor  evil.  Thus  they  speak  of 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  poets — of  Homer  and  Virgil,  in 
particular.  And  this  a  late  eminent  writer  extends  so 
far  as  to  assert  that  there  is  no  man  excellent  in  his 
profession,  whatsoever  it  be,  who  has  not  in  his  temper 
a  strong  tincture  of  enthusiasm.  By  enthusiasm  these 
appear  to  understand  an  uncommon  vigour  of  thought, 
a  peculiar  fervour  of  spirit,  a  vivacity  and  strength 
not  to  be  found  in  common  men,  elevating  the  soul  to 
greater  and  higher  things  than  cool  reason  could  have 
attained. 

"  But  neither  of  these  is  the  sense  wherein  the  word 
'  enthusiasm  '  is  most  usually  understood.    The  gener- 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  161 


ality  of  men,  if  no  further  agreed,  at  least  agree  thus 
far  concerning  it  that  it  is  something  evil.  And  this 
is  plainly  the  sentiment  of  all  those  who  call  the 
religion  of  the  heart  enthusiasm.  Accordingly,  I  shall 
take  it  in  the  following  pages  as  an  evil,  a  misfortune, 
if  not  a  fault. 

"  As  to  the  nature  of  enthusiasm,  it  is  undoubtedly  a 
disorder  of  the  mind ;  and  such  a  disorder  as  greatly 
hinders  the  exercise  of  reason.  Nay,  sometimes  it 
wholly  sets  it  aside.  It  not  only  dims,  but  shuts  the 
eyes  of  the  understanding.  It  may  therefore  well 
be  accounted  a  species  of  madness.  .  .  .  Enthusiasm 
in  general  may  be  described  in  some  such  a  manner  as 
this:  A  religious  madness  arising  from  some  falsely- 
imagined  influence  or  inspiration  of  God  ;  at  least,  from 
imputing  something  to  God  which  ought  not  to  be 
imputed  to  Him,  or  expecting  something  from  God 
which  ought  not  to  be  expected  from  Him." 

Wesley  then  proceeds  to  state  some  of  the  innumer- 
able forms  of  enthusiasm,  not  omitting  to  deliver  a 
sharp  retort  to  those  who,  as  he  says,  "  imagined  them- 
selves Christians,  and  were  not."  This  was  the  class 
most  addicted  to  calling  his  followers  enthusiasts,  and 
he  speaks  of  their  religion  as  "  palpable,  glaring  incon- 
sistency," as  "  an  awkward  mixture  of  real  heathenism 
and  imaginary  Christianity."  He  adds,  "Yet  still,  as 
you  have  so  vast  a  majority  on  your  side,  you  will 
always  carry  it  by  dint  of  numbers  that  you  are  the 
only  men  in  your  senses,  and  all  are  lunatics  who  are 
not  as  you  are." 

Earlier  in  the  discourse  Wesley  remarks,  "It  is  easy 
to  observe  that  the  determinate  thing  which  the  world 
accounts  madness  is  that  utter  contempt  of  all  spiritual 


162        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


things  and  steady  pursuit  of  things  eternal ;  that  divine 
conviction  of  things  not  seen ;  that  rejoicing  in  the 
favour  of  God ;  and  that  testimony  of  His  Spirit  with 
our  spirits  that  we  are  the  children  of  God — that  is, 
in  truth,  the  whole  spirit,  and  life,  and  power  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ."  Now  it  is  not,  perhaps,  very 
likely  that  Wesley,  when  he  penned  these  words,  had 
any  distinct  or  vivid  remembrance  of  Plato's  Phcedrus. 
If  the  fashion  of  that  subtly  imagined  and  exquisitely 
beautiful  work  had  been  present  to  his  mind,  he  would 
naturally  have  alluded  to  it,  when  speaking  of  the 
favourable  sense  in  which  the  word  enthusiasm  was 
sometimes,  though  in  his  day  seldom,  understood. 
Nevertheless,  there  exists  an  interesting  parallel 
between  the  above  passage  in  Wesley's  sermon  on 
Enthusiasm  and  a  passage  in  Plato's  treatise  on  the 
Soul.  The  world  becomes  "the  many."  The  phrase 
"that  utter  contempt  of  all  temporal  things  and 
steady  pursuit  of  things  eternal,"  appears  in  the 
Greek  as  "  quitting  human  pursuits  and  cleaving  to 
the  divine."  Anyone  behaving  in  this  way  is  rebuked 
by  "  the  many  "  as  mad,  whereas  he  is  only,  as  Horace 
Walpole  would  have  said,  "  acting  ugly  enthusiasm." 
"  The  divine  conviction  of  things  not  seen  "  becomes  in 
Platonic  phraseology,  "  the  recollecting  of  those  things 
which  our  soul  once  saw."  The  other  clauses  are  repre- 
sented partly  by  similar  clauses  in  the  Greek,  partly 
by  the  trend  of  the  passage,  which  well  deserves  to  be 
compared.  Even  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection 
which  Wesley  held  to  be  the  peculiar  heritage  of  the 
Methodists,  is  countenanced  in  a  sentence  hardly,  alas  ! 
translatable. 

Such  is  enthusiasm  as  understood  by  enthusiasts. 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  163 


Wesley,  however,  leant,  on  the  ground  of  usage,  to  the 
worst  construction  of  the  term  as  the  more  common. 
He  speaks  of  "  the  dreadful  effects  of  that  many-headed 
monster  Enthusiasm,"  and  he  liked  it  no  better  than 
the  soberest  of  his  contemporaries.  Where  eighteenth- 
century  writers  used  the  word  enthusiasm,  we  should 
generally  say  "  fanaticism."  We  cannot  help  ourselves, 
for  now  "  enthusiasm  "  is  hardly  ever  employed  except 
in  a  good  sense.  Voltaire  explains  the  difference  as 
follows  :  "  Fanaticism  is  to  superstition  what  a  delirium 
is  to  a  fever,  and  fury  to  anger.  He  who  has  ecstasies 
and  visions,  who  takes  dreams  for  realities,  and  his 
imaginations  for  prophecies,  is  an  enthusiast ;  and  he 
who  sticks  not  at  supporting  his  folly  by  murder  is  a 
fanatic.  Bartholomew  Diaz,  a  fugitive  at  Nuremberg, 
who  was  firmly  convinced  that  the  pope  is  the 
Antichrist  in  the  Revelations,  was  only  an  en- 
thusiast, whereas  his  brother,  who  set  out  from  Rome 
with  the  godly  intention  of  murdering  him,  and 
who  actually  did  murder  him  for  God's  sake,  was 
one  of  the  most  execrable  fanatics  superstition  could 
form." 

In  his  sermon  on  Enthusiasm,  Wesley  describes  as 
enthusiasts  persons  "  who  imagine  that  they  either  do 
or  shall  receive  particular  directions  from  God,  not 
only  in  points  of  importance,  but  in  things  of  no 
moment,  in  the  most  trifling  circumstances  of  life. 
Whereas  in  these  cases  God  has  given  us  our  own 
reason  for  a  guide,  though  never  excluding  the  secret 
assistance  of  His  Spirit.  .  .  .  Perhaps  some  may  ask, 
'  Ought  we  not  then  to  inquire  what  is  the  will  of 
God  in  all  things  ?  And  ought  not  His  will  to  be  the 
rule  of  our  practice  ? '    Unquestionably  it  ought.  But 


1 64        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 

how  is  a  sober  Christian  to  make  this  inquiry,  to  know 
what  is  the  will  of  God  ?  Not  by  waiting  for  super- 
natural dreams ;  not  by  expecting  God  to  reveal  it  in 
visions  ;  not  by  looking  for  any  particular  impressions 
or  sudden  impulses  on  his  mind.  No ;  but  by  con- 
sulting the  oracles  of  God.  'To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony  ! ' " 

It  might  be  supposed  that  in  this  and  the  ensuing 
paragraphs  Wesley  advanced  nothing  that  could  be 
twisted  by  the  most  ingenious  misrepresentation  into 
encouragement  of  superstitious  practices.  The  ex- 
pressions are  so  guarded  and  yet  so  explicit.  The 
words  italicised  seem  fatal  to  religious  trickery;  and 
the  regulation  of  conduct  appears  based  on  broad 
principles  to  be  ascertained  by  the  diligent  study  of 
the  Bible.  At  first  sight  this  commends  itself  as  the 
only  possible  interpretation  of  the  saying,  "  To  the 
law  and  to  the  testimony  ! "  On  further  examination, 
however,  it  becomes  evident  that  the  words  refer  to 
the  custom  of  sortilege  so  prevalent  among  the 
Methodists.  Wesley  himself  indulged  in  this  prac- 
tice, and  not  very  honestly  either.  When  a  text  did 
not  suit  him,  he  rejected  it,  and  continued  searching 
in  the  hope  that  the  Scriptures  might  show  themselves 
favourable  to  his  momentary  inclination.  This  was 
notably  the  case  on  the  occasion  when  Whitefield 
invited  him  to  Bristol.  The  sacred  oracles  were  dis- 
tinctly adverse,  and  not  only  adverse,  but  contra- 
dictory. Thus  the  first  text  declared,  "And  some  of 
them  would  have  taken  him ;  but  no  man  laid  hands  on 
him,"  but  another  stated,  "  I  will  show  him  what  great 
things  he  must  suffer  for  My  name's  sake."  However, 
the  general  character  of  the  texts  pointed  to  immedi- 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  165 


ate  death  as  the  consequence,  if  Wesley  responded  to 
Whitefield's  call. 

"Get  thee  up  into  this  mountain,  and  die  in  the 
mount  whither  thou  goest  up,  and  be  gathered  unto 
thy  people." 

"  And  the  children  of  Israel  wept  for  Moses  in  the 
plains  of  Moab  thirty  days." 

"  When  wicked  men  have  slain  a  righteous  person  in 
his  own  house  upon  his  bed,  shall  I  not  now  require 
his  blood  at  your  hands,  and  take  you  away  from  the 
earth  ? " 

"  Ahaz  slept  with  his  fathers,  and  they  buried  him 
in  the  city,  even  in  Jerusalem." 

Before  this  formidable  array  of  texts  Wesley  natur- 
ally quailed.  In  the  end,  as  we  have  seen,  he  accepted 
the  invitation.  He  was  not  martyred,  and  this  proof 
that  God  does  not  smile  on  such  attempts  to  penetrate 
the  veil  of  futurity  ought  to  have  satisfied  him  that 
the  practice  was  wrong  and  foolish.  How  wrong  and 
foolish  it  might  become  was  made  manifest  in  Mr. 
Lackington.  When  he  was  young,  the  bookseller  was 
locked  up  that  he  might  not  attend  a  Methodist  meet- 
ing at  Taunton.  In  a  fit  of  superstition  he  opened  the 
Bible  for  directions  what  to  do.  He  lit  on  the  words  : 
"  He  hath  given  His  angels  charge  concerning  thee,  lest 
at  any  time  thou  shouldest  dash  thy  foot  against  a 
stone."  "This,"  he  says,  "was  quite  enough  for  me. 
So,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  I  ran  up  two  pairs 
of  stairs  to  my  own  room,  and  out  of  the  window 
I  leaped,  to  the  great  terror  of  my  poor  mistress." 
Lackington,  though  not  killed,  was  much  bruised,  and 
not  being  able  to  rise,  was  carried  back  into  the  house. 
As  the  result  of  this  escapade,  he  had  to  keep  his  bed 


1 66        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


for  a  fortnight.  "  I  was  ignorant  enough,"  he  says, 
"to  think  that  the  Lord  had  not  used  me  very  well 
on  this  occasion." 

It  would  he  easy  to  err  in  dealing  with  this  aspect 
of  Methodism.  In  one  sense  the  incidents  are  charac- 
teristic of  the  movement,  inasmuch  as  they  reveal  the 
intensity  of  its  faith.  We  know  better  now  than 
to  undervalue  enthusiasm.  We  comprehend  it.  In- 
stead of  denouncing  the  emotion  as  frenzy,  we  applaud 
it  as  collective  ambition,  as  the  motive  power  of 
success.  But  were  the  eighteenth  -  century  critics 
entirely  in  the  wrong  ?  Decidedly  not.  Enthusiasm, 
to  be  useful  and  even  safe,  must  be  subject  to  discipline, 
to  control. 

Southey  said  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  "  This 
may  not  be  an  improper  occasion  to  observe,  that  the 
personal  behaviour  of  this  great  captain  has  been,  on 
all  occasions,  as  perfect  as  his  conduct  as  a  general. 
To  say  that  he  is  brave  is  to  give  him  a  praise  which 
he  shares  with  all  his  army,  but  that  for  which,  above 
all  other  officers,  he  is  distinguished,  is  that  wonder- 
ful union  of  the  coolest  patience  with  the  hottest 
courage,  that  sense  of  duty  which  restrains  him  from 
an  ostentatious  exposure  of  a  life,  of  the  value  of  which 
he  could  not  affect  to  be  ignorant,  and  that  brilliant 
gallantly,  which,  on  the  proper  occasions,  flashes  terror 
into  the  eyes  of  the  enemy  and  kindles  in  his  own 
army  an  enthusiasm  which  nothing  can  withstand." 

Mutatis  mutandis  the  same  assertions  might  be 
made  of  Wesley  and  his  army.  Among  the  things 
to  be  changed  was  the  fact  that,  while  Wellesley's 
lieutenants  were  all  faithful  to  him,  Wesley's  officers 
were  inclined  to  exalt  themselves  and  renounce  their 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  167 


fealty.  It  was  the  same  in  the  days  of  the  Great 
Reformation ;  and  Luther  has  been  censured,  though 
it  would  seem  very  unfairly,  for  his  uncompromising 
attitude  towards  Karlstadt.  Considering  that  this 
teacher  held  lax  views  on  the  subject  of  polygamy 
— a  practice  countenanced  by  the  example  of  the 
patriarch  Abraham,  and  therefore,  he  held,  excus- 
able, if  not  absolutely  meritorious,  in  Christians — it 
is  hard  to  see  what  compromise  Luther  could  have 
entertained  with  any  regard  for  his  personal  respect- 
ability and  the  honour  of  the  cause. 

Wesley  had  to  deal  with  a  similar  character  in 
George  Bell.  Both  Karlstadt  and  Bell  deluded  them- 
selves with  the  idea  that  convention  is  not  only  tame, 
but  worldly.  They  looked  upon  reform  as  a  process 
that  could  go  on  indefinitely,  in  a  kind  of  geometrical 
progression.  There  was  for  them  no  golden  mean. 
Karlstadt  thought  that  he  could  improve  on  the 
ordinarily  accepted  notions  of  morality,  while  Bell, 
turning  his  attention  to  the  mint  and  cummin  of  conduct, 
forsook  the  decencies  of  speech  for  an  oratory  all  his 
own.  He  became  a  champion  in  the  art  of  ranting. 
Wesley  did  not  like  this  departure,  and  after  patient 
efforts  at  checking  and  moderating  Bell,  found  him- 
self under  the  necessity  of  expelling  him. 

The  history  of  the  affair  is  not  lacking  in  interest. 
As,  however,  Bell  did  not  occasion  any  considerable 
trouble,  and  as  Wesley,  constitutionally  cool,  did  not 
fret  at  being  held  a  preacher  of  devilry,  there  might 
be  danger  of  overrating  the  incident,  which  did  not 
prevent  the  spread  of  the  movement. 

Wesley  averred  that  he  was  willing  to  bear  the 
scandal  of  the  cross,  but  not  the  scandal  of  enthusiasm. 


1 68        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


This  seems  to  show  that  he  did  not  approve,  and,  so 
far  as  his  authority  went,  would  not  permit  gratuitous 
extravagance.  His  critics,  though  able  to  point  to  cases 
like  Bell's,  were  deficient — perhaps  wantonly  deficient 
— in  the  sense  of  proportion,  and  unable — perhaps 
wantonly  unable — to  distinguish  between  things  that 
differ. 

In  that  remarkable  work  John  Inglesant,  the  finest 
spiritual  romance  of  our  time,  occurs  the  following 
passage  relating  to  the  Quietists : — "  God  seemed 
to  have  revealed  Himself  to  thousands  in  such  a 
fashion  as  to  make  their  past  lives  and  worship 
seem  profitless  and  unfruitful  before  the  brightness 
and  peace  that  was  revealed  ;  and  the  lords  of  His 
heritage  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  willing  that  the  light 
should  shine.  It  appeared  for  a  moment  as  if  Chris- 
tendom were  about  to  shake  off  its  shackles,  its  infant 
swaddling  clothes,  in  which  it  had  been  so  long 
wrapped,  and  acknowledging  that  the  childhood  of 
the  Church  was  past,  stand  forth  before  God  with  her 
children  around  her,  no  longer  distrusted  and  enslaved, 
but  each  individually  complete,  fellow-citizens  with 
their  mother  of  the  household  of  God.  The  unsatis- 
factory rotation  of  formal  penitence  and  sinful  lapse, 
of  wearisome  devotion  and  stale  pleasures,  had  given 
place  to  an  enthusiasm  which  believed  that,  instead 
of  ceremonies  and  bowing  in  outer  courts,  the  soul  was 
introduced  into  heavenly  places,  and  saw  God  face  to 
face.  A  wonderful  experience,  in  exchange  for  lifeless 
formality  and  rule,  of  communion  with  the  Lord,  with 
nothing  before  the  believer,  as  he  knelt  at  the  altar, 
save  the  Lord  Himself  day  by  day,  unshackled  by 
penance  and  confession  as  heretofore.    But  it  was 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  169 


only  for  a  moment  that  this  bright  prospect  was 
opened  to  the  Church.  The  Jesuits  and  Benedictines 
began  to  be  alarmed,  and  the  Inquisition  was  brought 
to  bear  on  the  adherents  of  the  sect." 

A  little  later  Mr.  Shorthouse  speaks  of  the 
"  undoubted  extravagance,"  of  which  the  Quietists,  in 
common  with  other  mystics,  were  occasionally  guilty, 
and  which  helps  to  explain  the  alarm  of  the  two 
orders,  just  as  Brother  Bell's  vagaries  help  to  explain 
the  prejudice  against  Methodism.  Comparing  the 
Church  of  Rome  with  the  Church  of  England,  Macaulay 
remarks  on  the  superior  astuteness  of  the  former  in 
comprehending  religious  enthusiasts.  It  is  doubtful, 
however,  whether  the  pope  would  long  have  tolerated 
Methodism.  It  is  evident  that  he  did  not  tolerate 
Quietism,  from  which  Methodism  is,  on  one  side,  lineally 
descended.  Madame  Guyon,  whose  writings  Wesley 
edited,  was  persecuted  by  Bossuet.  This  lady  was 
influenced  by  Molinos,  and  she  in  turn  influenced 
Fenelon,  who  was  also  persecuted.  There  was  a 
limit  to  Roman,  as  there  was  to  Anglican,  gracious- 
ness.  On  the  other  hand,  Wesley's  autocratic  demean- 
our towards  persons  like  Bell  led  critics  to  tax  him, 
not  very  unjustly,  with  exercising  a  kind  of  popedom 
over  them. 

The  errors  of  both  Bell  and  Karlstadt  were  closely  con- 
nected with  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection,  which, 
again,  is  closely  connected  with  the  rise  of  genuine 
enthusiasm.  If  a  man  is  enthusiastic  in  any  pursuit — 
music,  or  morals,  art,  or  politics,  or  sport — he  will  seek 
to  be  perfect  in  it.  He  will  not  be  hindered  by  scien- 
tific demonstration  that  perfection  is  only  a  dream, 
an  ideal ;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  his  ambition,  he  will 


170        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


refuse  to  believe  that  perfection  is  unattainable.  As 
our  Lord  Himself  commanded  His  disciples  "  Be  ye 
perfect,  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,"  it  is 
hard  to  see  how  this  cheerful  and  inspiring  doctrine 
can  be  left  out  of  any  scheme  of  Christianity  pro- 
fessing to  be  complete.  That  its  adoption  may  tend  to 
make  some  men  conceited,  and  others  uncharitable,  is 
no  valid  objection.  Wesley  nowhere  showed  his  great- 
ness more  than  in  declining  to  be  moved  by  cavils. 
He  would  never  sacrifice  substance  to  shadow,  or 
history  to  incident. 

Still  the  question  remains — What  sort  of  Christian 
Perfection  ?  Certainly  not  that  of  Karlstadt,  which, 
by  substitution  of  grace  for  law,  by  idolatry  of  private 
judgment,  paved  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the 
harem.  Certainly  not  that  of  George  Bell  expressing 
itself  in  indecorous  ritual  and  affectation  of  "  tongues." 
What  Wesley  intended  by  Christian  Perfection  was  a 
certain  innocence,  and  this  apparently  was  our  Lord's 
meaning,  since  He  set  a  child  in  the  midst  of  His 
disciples  and  declared  that  of  such  was  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  But  how  can  such  innocence  consist  with 
the  ways  of  the  world,  with  the  corruptions  of  society  ? 
Ascetics  of  every  school  deny  the  possibility,  and  equally 
men  of  the  world  exclude  perfection  from  the  sphere  of 
morals.  They  aim  rather  at  a  via  media,  at  a  working 
compromise  as  alone  compatible  with  the  weakness  of 
human  nature. 

Philosophers  of  our  own  time,  in  somewhat  of  the 
spirit  that  brought  about  the  Renaissance,  inform  us 
that,  if  we  wish  to  be  happy,  we  must  not  be  too  good. 
This  opinion  seems  to  have  been  held  very  firmly  by 
the  late  M.  Renan.    Writing  in  the  North  American 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  171 


Review  for  January  1899,  M.  Max  O'Rell  expounds 
the  great  French  master's  philosophy  of  life  in  the 
following  sentences  : — "  Ernest  Renan  loved  humanity 
with  all  its  weaknesses,  even  because  of  its  weaknesses. 
He  held  that  people  are  often  lovable  on  account  of  a 
hundred  little  failings  and  weaknesses.  He  sometimes 
pitied  the  world,  but  never  scolded  it.  He  was  a  great, 
gentle,  lofty  spirit,  the  greatest  thinker  and  scholar  of 
his  time,  who  thought  like  a  man,  felt  like  a  woman, 
sometimes  acted  like  a  child,  and  always  wrote  like 
an  angel.  Through  his  genius  the  world  has  been 
made  happier  and  better.  '  I  am  cheerful,'  once  wrote 
Renan,  '  because,  having  had  few  amusements  when 
young,  I  have  kept  my  illusions  in  all  their  freshness.' 

"  Children  are  happy  and  cheerful  because  they 
are  full  of  illusions,  of  belief  and  confidence.  When 
we  are  told  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  that  '  except 
we  become  as  little  children,  we  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  I  am  disposed  to  interpret 
the  verse :  '  Except  we  become  as  little  children,  con- 
fident, believing,  and  unconscious  of  malice,  we  shall 
not  be  happy  in  this  world.'  When  I  read,  '  Happy 
are  the  poor  in  spirit,  because  the}^  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  I  am  disposed  to  say, 
1  Happy  are  those  who  are  determined  not  to  know 
all  the  truths  in  life,  because  they  shall  be  happy  in 
the  world.' 

"  Renan  would  say  to  you,  '  Don't  take  life  too  seri- 
ously. When  you  are  old  you  will  remember  life  with 
pleasure  only  by  the  hundreds  of  little  follies  you 
have  indulged  in,  by  the  hundreds  of  innocent  little 
temptations  you  have  succumbed  to.  Avoid  perfect 
people  and  angels  of  all  sorts — this  side  of  the  grave. 


172        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Man  will  never  be  perfect;  love  him  with  all  his 
imperfections.  Never  resist  impulses  of  generosity. 
They  will  make  you  cheerful,  nay,  healthy.  They  will 
give  colour  to  your  cheeks  and  prevent  your  flesh, 
in  old  age,  from  turning  into  yellow,  dried  up 
parchment.  Come  home  with  your  pockets  full  of 
presents  for  the  children.  Let  them  put  their  little 
hands  right  down  to  the  bottom  of  those  pockets. 
You  will  be  repaid,  amply  repaid,  by  their  holding 
up  their  little  round  faces,  to  thank  you  in  anticipation 
of  what  they  know  you  have  done  for  them.' " 

Renan's,  or  perhaps  M.  O'Rell's,  exegetics  need  not  be 
discussed.  They  will  no  doubt  offend  tender  and  sus- 
ceptible minds  averse  from  materialising  or  terres- 
trialising  Scripture.  But,  apart  from  exegetics,  most 
wholesome  individuals  will  find  much  to  approve  in 
M.  O'Rell's  deliverance,  and  even  rigid  Methodists, 
though  they  may  not  altogether  bless,  will  assuredly 
not  altogether  curse  the  Frenchman.  The  evangelist 
will  be  prepared  to  love  the  sinner  with  all  his  imper- 
fections. The  paterfamilias,  it  is  more  than  likely, 
is  already  addicted  to  the  pleasant  customs  specified 
for  our  imitation.  Between  Renan  and  Methodism 
there  exists  no  antagonism — outside  theology.  By 
Methodism  is  intended  the  Methodism  of  to-day. 
Between  Wesley  and  Renan  yawns  a  huge  chasm, 
even  as  regards  matters  concerning  which  the  common 
sense  of  humanity  is  explicit,  positive.  Out  of  deference 
to  his  mother,  or  his  mother's  dust,  Wesley  refused  to 
condemn  card-playing,  but  he  condemned  amusements 
en  bloc.  The  sentiments  of  the  early  Methodists 
on  this  point  are  well  expressed  in  one  of  their 
hymns : 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  173 


"No  room  for  mirth  or  trifling  here, 
For  worldly  hope  or  worldly  fear, 
If  life  so  soon  be  gone." 

Many  good  Methodists  have  lived  and  died  in  this 
spirit.  Regarding  themselves  as  strictly  on  probation, 
they  have  chosen  to  treat  all  forms  of  pleasure  not 
identified  with  the  exercises  of  religion  as,  in  all 
probability,  wiles  of  the  devil.  Here  again  Methodism 
is  in  line  with  primitive  Christianity.  "  If  any  be  merry 
let  him  sing  psalms."  In  practice,  Christian  Perfection 
has  been  sought,  by  the  avoidance  not  only  of  ac- 
knowledged vices,  but  of  what  are  called  doubtful 
amusements.  These  are,  primarily,  games  of  hazard, 
attendance  at  the  theatre,  and  dancing.  Persons  who 
indulge  in  these  pleasures  are  considered  as  not  on 
the  road  to  Christian  Perfection ;  many  Methodists 
would  say  that  they  were  not  Christians  at  all. 

Much  of  the  odium  that  clings  to  the  name  "  Method- 
ist "  has  sprung  from  the  zeal  with  which  Wesley  and 
his  followers  have  combated  what  are,  to  the  natural 
man,  indispensable  gratifications.  At  Hayfield,  in 
1755,  Wesley  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  Miss 
Baddiley,  the  incumbent's  favourite  daughter.  During 
the  discourse  he  referred  to  the  text  in  Ecclesiastes,  in 
which  we  are  plainly  told  that  "  there  is  a  time  to 
dance."  Wesley  was  doubtful  about  this.  "  I  know 
of  no  such  time,"  he  said,  "  except  it  be  a  time  analo- 
gous to  that  in  which  David  danced  before  the  ark. 
Be  careful  that  you  don't  dance  yourselves  into  hell." 
This  severe  morality  exasperated  the  parishioners,  who 
loved  dancing  as  much  as  Wesley  loved  preaching; 
and  a  dancing-master  was  imported,  by  way  of  retort. 
The  dancing  was  carried  on  in  an  alehouse. 


174        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Now  it  so  happened  that  the  innkeeper  had  an  only- 
child,  who  could  not  endure  the  squeaking  of  the  fiddles 
and  the  general  hilarity.  They  seem  to  have  affected 
him  with  a  sort  of  neuralgia.  The  consequence  was 
that,  although  he  was  confined  in  a  back  kitchen,  the 
boy  escaped,  and,  on  a  search  being  made,  was  found 
drowned  in  an  adjoining  river.  As  Mr.  Tyerman 
speaks  of  the  country  people  "  tripping  on  light  fan- 
tastic toe  the  downward  path  to  the  place  of  horrors," 
it  may  be  assumed  that  he,  in  common  with  Wesley 
and  Baddiley,  conceived  of  the  innkeeper's  loss  as 
retribution. 

It  is  highly  questionable  whether  the  majority  of 
men  will  endorse  this  view.  "  Dancing,  like  laughter, 
is  instinctive  as  the  expression  of  joy.  Suppress 
dancing,  and  you  suppress  joy.  Suppress  joy,  and  you 
suppress  good-temper."  That  will  be  the  argument. 
Bishop  Heber,  author  of  that  fine  missionary  hymn, 
"  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains,"  favoured,  not 
abstinence,  but  temperance.  His  widow  writes  :  "  Al- 
though his  mind  was  deeply  imbued  with  devotional 
feelings,  he  considered  a  moderate  participation  in 
what  are  usually  called  'worldly  amusements'  as 
allowable  and  blameless."  And  again,  "  He  thought 
that  the  strictness  which  made  no  distinction  between 
things  blamable  only  in  their  abuse  and  the  practices 
which  were  really  immoral,  was  prejudicial  to  the 
interests  of  true  religion ;  and  on  this  point  his  opinion 
remained  unchanged  to  the  last.  His  own  life,  indeed, 
was  a  proof  that  amusements  so  participated  in  may 
be  perfectly  harmless,  and  no  way  interfere  with  any 
religious  or  moral  duty." 

The  truth  is  that  on  the  subject  of  amusements — 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  175 


their  kind,  their  amount — no  definite  rule  can  be  laid 
down.  Those  there  are — Wesley  himself  was  one — 
who  are  so  absorbed  in  a  particular  quest — Weslej^  in 
seeking  souls — that  they  are  impatient  of  any  and 
every  check,  and  each  irrelevant  pleasure  is  felt  to  be 
a  hindrance.  Others  are  of  a  different  constitution, 
and  love  variety.  In  any  case,  the  coercion  of  youth, 
to  which  hardly  any  pleasure  is  irrelevant,  is  a  matter 
requiring  tact  and  discretion.  To  say  "  Be  careful 
that  you  don't  dance  yourselves  into  hell "  is  to  blunder 
monstrously. 

In  one  of  his  pre-Roman  essays,  Newman  discourses 
with  admirable  lucidity  on  the  essential,  the  incorrig- 
ible irreligion  of  young  men.  As  Wesley  grew  older, 
he  evinced  symptoms  of  tolerance,  and  even  sympathy, 
for  wilful  and  wayward  youth.  On  Monday,  June  7, 
1762,  he  entered  in  his  diary,  "I  met  a  large  number 
of  children  just  as  much  acquainted  with  God  and  the 
things  of  God  as  a  wild  ass's  colt,  and  just  as  much 
concerned  about  them.  And  yet  who  can  believe  that 
those  pretty  little  creatures  have  the  wrath  of  God 
abiding  on  them  ? "  When  he  was  past  eighty  he 
wrote:  "  On  Sunday,  March  18,  1787,  I  met  the  single 
women  of  the  society  [at  Spitalfields]  and  advised 
them  to  make  full  use  of  the  advantages  they  enjoyed, 
but  I  doubt  not  many  had  ears  to  hear : 

'  For  when  had  youth  the  leisure  to  be  wise  ? ' " 

Wesley  once  said  that  he  and  leisure  had  long  since 
parted  company,  but  that,  of  course,  was  in  the  opposite 
sense. 

There  is  little  doubt  that,  in  its  treatment  of  amuse- 
ments, Methodism  has  been  unnecessarily  strict;  and 


176        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


the  result  in  many  cases  must  have  been  to  induce  an 
unsocial  and  censorious  frame  of  mind.  "  Mixed  danc- 
ing" is  a  phrase  that  has  an  ugly  sound,  but  in 
practice  the  social  intercourse  of  the  sexes  is  to  be 
encouraged,  as  tending  to  banish  morbid  thoughts,  and 
as  fostering  a  kindly  and  hospitable  tone  between 
neighbours.  At  the  same  time  there  is  evident  ob- 
jection, even  from  a  hedonist's  standpoint,  to  a  life  of 
pure  pleasure-seeking.  Did  not  Renan  observe,  "  I  am 
cheerful  because,  having  had  few  amusements  when 
young,  I  have  kept  my  illusions  in  all  their  fresh- 
ness ? "    In  that  sense,  Methodism  was  right. 

The  tenet  of  Christian  Perfection,  on  its  ethical  as 
well  as  on  its  doctrinal  side,  brought  Wesley,  at  quite 
an  early  period,  into  collision  with  his  friends  the 
Moravians.  It  occasioned,  in  fact,  a  complete  rupture  of 
their  relations.  We  find  him  taxing  the  Brethren  with 
conformity  to  the  world,  with  useless  and  trifling  con- 
versation, with  levity  in  their  general  behaviour,  with 
joining  in  diversions  in  order  to  do  good,  with  not 
reproving  sin  —  conduct  wholly  inconsistent  with 
Christian  Perfection  except  as  it  might  be  defined  by 
the  Jesuits  who,  to  be  sure,  believed  in  the  perfectibility 
of  human  nature.  The  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection, 
however,  formed  no  part  of  Moravian  theology.  It  had 
come  to  Wesley,  not  from  the  United  Brethren,  but 
from  Law. 

The  Moravians  were  essentially  Quietists.  Their 
conception  of  religion  was  a  purely  passive  state  in 
which  Christ  performs  all  that  is  necessary  for  the 
believer.  Good  works  and  self-denial  are  alike  re- 
jected as  stultifying  the  high  mysticism  of  absolute 
surrender.     Christian  Perfection  implied  self-culture, 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  177 


self-discipline.  It  implied  the  working  out  of  one's 
own  salvation.  The  Brethren  would  none  of  it. 
Spangenberg,  the  Moravian  pastor  with  whom,  it 
will  be  remembered,  Wesley  met  and  conversed  on 
his  first  landing  in  America,  displayed  deep  emotion. 
His  hand  trembled  as  he  said,  "  You  all  deceive  your 
own  souls  !  There  is  no  higher  state  than  that  I  have 
described.  You  are  in  a  very  dangerous  error.  You 
know  not  your  own  hearts.  You  fancy  your  corrup- 
tions are  taken  away,  whereas  they  are  only  covered. 
Inward  corruption  never  can  be  taken  away  till  our 
bodies  are  in  the  dust."  Peter  Bohler,  practically  the 
instrument  of  Wesley's  conversion,  expressed  in  home- 
lier phrase  the  same  conviction:  "Sin  will  and  must 
always  remain  in  the  soul.  The  old  man  will  remain 
till  death.  The  old  nature  is  like  an  old  tooth ;  you 
may  break  off"  one  bit,  and  another,  and  another ;  but 
you  can  never  get  it  all  away.  The  stump  will  stay  as 
long  as  you  live,  and  sometimes  will  ache  too." 

As  Wesley  was  no  less  firm  in  insisting  on  his 
favourite  doctrine,  separation  seemed  inevitable.  In 
order  to  prevent  such  a  result,  Count  Zinzendorf  him- 
self, the  apostle  of  simplicity,  came  over  to  England 
and  met  Wesley  in  Gray's  Inn  Walks.  From  the  out- 
set Zinzendorf  took  the  upper  hand,  and  asked  Wesley 
why  he  had  changed  his  religion.  "  You  have  affirmed," 
he  said,  "  in  your  epistle,  that  they  who  are  true  Chris- 
tians are  not  miserable  sinners,  and  this  is  most  false ; 
the  best  of  men  are  most  miserable  sinners,  even  till 
death.  They  who  teach  otherwise  are  either  absolute 
impostors,  or  they  are  under  a  diabolical  delusion. 
You  have  opposed  our  brethren  who  taught  better 
things ;  and  when  they  offered  peace,  you  denied  it. 
12 


178        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


I  loved  you  greatly  when  you  wrote  to  me  from 
Georgia ;  then  I  knew  that  you  were  simple  at  heart. 
You  wrote  again  ;  I  knew  that  you  were  simple  at  heart, 
but  that  your  ideas  were  disturbed.  You  came  to  us, 
and  then  your  ideas  were  more  and  more  confused." 

Zinzendorf's  recollections  were  correct.  Wesley's 
pedagogues  had  reported  him  a  homo  perturbatus. 
He  had  lacked  simplicity.  His  head  had  gained  an 
ascendency  over  his  heart.  If  that  were  true  then, 
how  much  more  true  was  it  now !  The  tendency  to 
heresy  had  blossomed  into  this  deadly  nightshade  of 
Christian  Perfection.  The  Count  was  fierce,  implac- 
able. He  would  hold  no  parley,  grant  no  quarter. 
He  treated  the  new  doctrine  as  a  doctrine  of  devils. 
"  I  acknowledge  no  inherent  perfection  in  this  life. 
This  is  the  error  of  errors.  I  persecute  it  through  all 
the  world  with  fire  and  sword.  I  trample  upon  it,  I 
destroy  it.  Christ  is  our  only  Perfection.  All  Chris- 
tian Perfection  is  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  It  is 
imputed,  not  inherent.  We  are  perfect  in  Christ ;  we 
are  never  perfect  in  ourselves."  That  no  doubt  might 
remain  on  the  subject,  Zinzendorf  permitted  himself 
to  use  language  which,  perhaps,  expressed  rather  his 
own  impatience  and  desire  to  end  the  controversy  than 
the  faith  and  practice  of  the  general  body  of  his  co- 
religionists. "  We  reject  all  self-denial ;  we  trample 
on  it.  In  faith  we  do  whatever  we  desire,  and  nothing 
more.  We  laugh  at  all  mortification;  no  purifying 
precedes  perfect  love." 

It  is  certain  that  the  two  men  did  not  understand 
each  other.  Zinzendorf  was  content  with  ideas, 
whereas  Wesley,  like  a  practical  Englishman,  was 
anxious  to  see  the  fruits  of  righteousness.    He  was 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  179 


ambitious ;  he  aimed  at  reform.  He  figured  to  himself 
perfection  as  the  end,  and  love  as  the  breeze  to  waft 
the  Christian  believer  nearer  and  nearer  to  that  glorious 
destination.  Where  love  exists  in  any  high  degree,  it 
is  absurd  to  speak  of  self-denial.  The  pang  is  gone. 
Wesley  was  therefore  right  in  saying  that  the  dispute 
was  mainly  about  words,  but  he  promised  that,  with 
Cod's  help,  he  would  ponder  the  Count's  admonitions. 
These  pious  and  proper  expressions  appeared  to 
prelude,  if  not  unity,  at  least  external  friendliness  and 
inward  charity.  But  Zinzendorf  and  Wesley  were 
both  strong-willed,  not  to  say  stiff-necked.  The  two 
popes  excommunicated  each  other.  The  Count  dis- 
owned the  Wesleys  through  the  profane  and  public 
agency  of  the  Daily  Post  and  the  Daily  Advertiser. 
Wesley,  in  turn,  recorded  his  opinions  and  feelings  in 
his  own  private  and  confidential  Journal. 

In  the  autumn  of  1749  Wesley  received  a  sym- 
pathetic letter  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  John 
Martin  Bolzius,  a  Moravian  pastor  settled  in  Georgia, 
and  the  identical  person  whom  he  had  conceived  it  his 
duty  to  drive  from  the  Lord's  Table,  wrote  to  inform 
him  that "  the  Lord  had  not  permitted  the  Herrnhuters 
(falsely  called  the  Moravians)  nor  other  false  teachers 
to  creep  in  among  them."  Wesley  did  not  set  much 
store  by  this  distinction,  nor  was  he  perhaps  greatly 
comforted  by  the  assurance  that  the  Herrnhuters  had 
not  as  yet  gained  a  footing  in  the  colony.  That  they 
were  active  and  zealous  in  the  mother-country  is 
proved  by  the  following  letter  addressed  to  the  editor 
of  the  Daily  Post : — 

"  Whosoever  reckons  that  those  persons  in  England 
who  are  usually  called  Moravians  and  those  who  are 


1 8o        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


called  Methodists  are  the  same,  is  mistaken.  That 
they  are  not  the  same  people  is  manifest  enough  out  of 
the  Declaration  of  Louis,  late  Bishop  and  Trustee  of 
the  Brethren's  Church,  dated  at  London,  March  1743 ; 
which  I  here  send  you,  as  I  find  it  printed  in  a 
collection  of  original  papers  of  the  Brethren,  printed  at 
Budingen,  called  the  'Budingen  Sammlung,'  vol.  iii. 
p.  852." 

Wesley  comments  on  this  notification :  "  The 
Methodists,  so-called,  heartily  thank  Brother  Louis  for 
his  Declaration,  as  they  count  it  no  honour  to  be  in 
any  connection  either  with  him  or  his  Brethren.  But 
why  is  he  ashamed  of  his  name  ?  The  Count's  name  is 
Ludwig,  not  Louis;  no  more  than  mine  is  Jean  or 
Giovanni."  There  is  an  obvious  pettiness,  as  well  as 
pettishness,  in  this  rejoinder,  and  throughout  Wesley 
was  sarcastic  and  satirical  rather  than  justly  (or  un- 
justly) indignant.  On  the  first  occasion  of  the  rift,  he 
fell  foul  of  the  Count's  aristocratic  titles.  "  Was  there 
ever  such  a  Proteus  under  the  sun  as  this  Lord 
Fray  deck,  Domine  de  Thurstain,  etc.  etc.,  for  he  has 
almost  as  many  names  as  he  has  faces  or  shapes.  Oh, 
when  will  he  learn  (with  all  his  learning)  simplicity 
and  godly  sincerity  ?  When  will  he  be  an  upright 
follower  of  the  Lamb,  so  that  no  guile  may  be  found 
in  his  mouth  ? " 

For  "the  well-known  little  fool  and  poor  sinner," 
as  he  subscribed  himself,  the  allusion  to  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity,  if  he  read  it,  must  have  been  the  most 
unkindest  cut  of  all,  since  it  was  on  those  virtues  that 
he  insisted,  insisted,  insisted.  However,  Zinzendorf 
was  not  the  sole,  nor  perhaps  the  worst,  offender. 
Wesley  discovered  that  the   Moravians  were  anti- 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  181 


nomian,  not  only  in  creed,  but  in  deed.  "  The 
particulars,"  he  says  in  one  place,  "  are  too  shocking  to 
relate."  Nevertheless,  on  the  testimony  of  Mr.  K — , 
a  brother  renegade,  he  enters  in  his  Journal  for 
December  22,  1751,  a  particular  account  of  their 
vices,  which,  if  Mr.  K —  was  truthful,  rivalled  those  of 
Tiberius  on  the  isle  of  Capreae.  The  Moravians  had 
become  "  cruel  and  deceitful  men  " — certainly,  a  notable 
change  from  the  time  when  they  stood  for  Wesley  in 
lieu  of  the  apostles.  It  is  an  unpleasant  trait  in  the 
character  of  this  great  man  that  he  could  not  part 
from  old  friends  without  discharging  at  them  the 
venom  of  abuse.  Law  had  been  reproached  with  his 
temper,  and  now  the  Moravians  are  worse  than 
immoral.  Doubtless,  there  were  faults  on  both  sides, 
but  somehow  Wesley  creates  the  impression  of  sacri- 
ficing too  largely  on  the  altar  of  revised  infallibility. 
He  did  not  recant  beliefs;  he  added  to  or  modified 
them.  He  did  recant — and  it  was  not  to  his  credit — 
persons. 

It  was  towards  his  fathers  in  God  that  Wesley 
chiefly  exhibited  asperity.  To  be  sure,  he  wrote 
of  George  Bell  and  similar  fry  with  contemptuous 
indifference,  but  for  them  he  had  professed  neither 
affection  nor  reverence.  When,  however,  it  was  a 
question  of  George  Whitefield,  a  son  in  the  gospel  of 
whom  he  felt  he  could  be  proud,  Wesley,  it  is  just  to 
state,  was  a  monument  of  patience.  About  the  year 
1741  there  arose  serious  differences  between  Whitefield 
and  the  Wesleys  concerning  predestination.  White- 
field  was  a  convinced  Calvinist,  as  were  many  other 
leading  Methodists — notably  Cennick.  On  the  other 
hand,  "brother   Charles  pleased    the    world  with 


I  32        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


universal  redemption,  and  brother  John  followed  him 
in  everything." 

That  was  Cennick's  story.  Whatever  Cennick 
might  say,  and  he  said  besides  that  no  atheist  could 
preach  more  against  predestinarianism  than  the  Wesley 
brothers,  John  Wesley  had  always  treated  both  men 
and  doctrine  with  marked  tenderness.  He  knew  that 
there  were  Calvinists  among  his  followers,  but  he 
took  no  steps  to  expel  them,  or,  rather,  he  only 
expelled  them  when  they  abandoned  themselves  to 
slandering  and  backbiting.  Then  "I,  John  Wesley," 
did  declare  certain  specified  persons  to  be  no  longer 
members  of  the  band  society. 

It  might  perhaps  have  been  well  had  the  disciplinary 
process  began  sooner.  A  woman  had  complained  to 
Charles  Wesley  of  her  husband,  who  had  embraced  the 
predestinarian  gospel,  had  returned  home  elect,  and 
had  celebrated  the  discovery  by  beating  his  wife. 
The  ignorance,  if  not  the  brutality,  of  this  Calvinist 
was  equalled  by  that  of  two  "prophets"  who,  about 
this  time,  called  on  John  Wesley  with  a  message  from 
God.  This  was  to  the  effect  that  very  shortly  he 
would  be  bom'd  again.  One  of  them  added  that  they 
would  stay  in  the  house  till  all  was  accomplished — 
unless  they  were  turned  out.  As  the  weather  was 
rough,  Wesley  had  compassion  on  their  infirmities. 

The  last  charge  that  could  be  brought  and  sustained 
against  Wesley  was  that  of  favouring  needless 
expulsions.  So  far  from  wishing  to  rid  himself  of 
predestinarian  malcontents,  he  sought  to  conciliate 
them  by  himself  adopting  Calvinism  on  its  positive 
side. 

There  were  three  points  in  dispute — unconditional 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  183 


election,  irresistible  grace,  and  final  perseverance.  As 
regards  the  first,  Wesley  held,  though  he  did  not  think 
the  matter  capable  of  proof,  that  God  "  has  uncon- 
ditionally elected  some  persons,  thence  eminently 
styled  '  the  elect '  to  eternal  glory,"  but  he  would  not 
allow  that  everyone  not  so  elected  must  perish 
eternally.  Secondly,  with  reference  to  the  highly 
favoured  few,  those  specially  elect  (if  any  there 
were),  the  grace  of  God  was  of  necessity  irresistible. 
But  it  did  not  follow  that  Hell  was  to  be  the  portion 
of  all  who  were  not  the  subjects  of  that  particular 
kind  of  grace.  The  belief  in  final  perseverance  he 
found  unobjectionable.  There  was  a  state  in  this  life 
from  which  a  man  could  not  finally  fall,  and  this  state 
the  man  had  attained  who  could  say,  "  Old  things  are 
passed  away ;  all  things  in  me  are  become  new."  All 
those  eminently  styled  "the  elect"  would  infallibly 
persevere  to  the  end. 

These  concessions  did  not  satisfy  Whitefield,  who 
published  a  sermon  in  which  he  assailed,  inter  alia, 
Wesley's  habit  of  casting  lots.  The  allusion,  as  it  was 
not  germane  to  the  discussion,  must  be  taken  as 
evidence  of  some  heat ;  and  Whitefield,  recognising  his 
fault,  had  the  good  sense  to  apologise.  Wesley  did  not 
reply  to  the  pamphlet.  "You  may  read  Whitefield 
against  Wesley,"  he  said,  "but  you  shall  never  read 
Wesley  against  Whitefield."  The  strong  antagonism 
of  their  views  was,  however,  made  manifest  in  a 
conversation  that  took  place  after  a  private  assembly 
in  which  Whitefield  had  propounded  his  opinions  with 
peculiar  vigour  and  gusto. 

"  Brother,"  asked  Wesley,  "  are  you  aware  of  what 
you  have  done  to-night  ?  " 


i  84        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


"  Yes,"  said  Whitefield,  "  I  have  defended  truth." 

"  You  have  tried  to  prove,"  answered  Wesley,  "  that 
God  is  worse  than  the  devil,  for  the  devil  can  only 
tempt  a  man  to  sin.  But,  if  what  you  have  said  be 
true,  God  forces  a  man  to  sin ;  and  therefore,  on  your 
system,  God  is  worse  than  the  devil." 

Co-operation  in  these  circumstances  was  impossible, 
but,  so  far  as  feeling  was  concerned,  it  is  pleasing  to 
record  that,  through  the  good  offices  of  Howell  Harris, 
a  warm  -  hearted  Welsh  preacher,  the  two  great 
Methodists  were  fully  reconciled.  "  Mr.  Wesley," 
wrote  Whitefield  in  1742,  "  I  think  is  wrong  in  some 
things ;  but  I  believe  he  will  shine  bright  in  glory.  I 
have  not  given  way  to  him,  or  to  any  whom  I  thought 
in  error — no,  not  for  an  hour ;  but  I  think  it  best  not 
to  dispute  where  there  is  no  probability  of  convincing." 
Again,  in  a  communication  addressed  to  Wesley  on 
October  11  of  that  year,  he  observes,  "I  had  your 
kind  letter,  dated  October  5.  In  answer  to  the  first 
part  of  it,  I  say,  '  Let  old  things  pass  away,  and  all 
things  become  new.'  I  can  also  heartily  say  '  Amen ' 
to  the  latter  part  of  it — '  Let  the  king  live  for  ever 
and  controversy  die.'  It  has  died  with  me  long  ago. 
I  thank  you,  dear  sir,  for  praying  for  me.  I  have 
been  upon  my  knees  praying  for  you  and  yours,  and 
that  nothing  but  love,  lowliness,  and  simplicity  may  be 
among  us ! " 

However,  the  leaders  continued  to  work  on  independ- 
ent lines.  Whitefield,  when  in  England,  poured  forth 
torrents  of  eloquence  in  his  Tabernacles,  and  Wesley 
prosecuted  his  task  of  "spreading  scriptural  holiness 
throughout  the  land."  But  there  was  no  more  bitter- 
ness.    When,  in  1770,  tidings  were  brought  from 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  185 


America  of  Whitefield's  death,  Wesley,  at  the  request 
of  his  executors,  preached  his  funeral  sermon. 

Although  the  relations  between  Whitefield  and 
Wesley  were  thus  happily  adjusted,  the  controversy 
did  not  end,  and  Wesley  had  to  encounter  the  pointed 
and  poisoned  shafts  of  many  ireful  Calvinists,  including 
Augustus  Toplady,  writer  of  "  Rock  of  Ages,"  and  the 
celebrated  Rowland  Hill.  In  1776  was  published  a 
twopenny  pamphlet  entitled,  "  A  necessary  Alarm  and 
most  earnest  Caveto  against  Tabernacle  Principles  and 
Tabernacle  Connections;  containing  the  substance  of 
an  extraordinary  Harangue  and  Exhortation,  delivered 
at  Penzance,  in  August  1774 ;  on  an  extraordinary 
occasion.  By  J.  W.,  Master  of  very  extraordinary 
Arts."  Toplady  reviewed  this  pamphlet  in  his  Gospel 
Magazine.  He  described  it  as  "a  delicate  satire  on 
Wesley,"  and  hoped  that  "  the  cream  of  tartar,  so  ably 
administered  by  the  anonymous  physician,  would  prove 
a  sweetener  of  the  patient's  crudities,  and  conduce  to 
carry  off  some  portion  of  his  self-sufficiency." 

In  the  following  year  Rowland  Hill  entered  the  lists. 
He  issued  an  octavo  pamphlet  of  forty  pages,  which  he 
styled  "  Imposture  Detected  and  the  Dead  Vindicated ; 
in  a  Letter  to  a  Friend :  containing  some  gentle 
Strictures  on  the  false  and  libellous  Harangue,  lately 
delivered  by  Mr.  John  Wesley,  upon  his  laying  the 
first  stone  of  his  new  Dissenting  Meeting-house,  near 
the  City  Road." 

According  to  this  account,  Wesley's  sermon  was  a 
wretched  harangue,  from  which  the  blessed  name  of 
Jesus  was  almost  totally  excluded.  By  erasing  about 
half  a  dozen  lines  the  shrewdest  of  readers  might  be 
defied  to  discover  whether  the  lying  apostle  of  the 


1 86        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Foundery  was  a  Jew,  a  papist,  a  pagan,  or  a  Turk. 
The  late  ever-memorable  Mr.  Whitefield  was  being 
scratched  out  of  his  grave  by  the  claws  of  a  designing 
wolf. 

Wesley  was  a  libeller,  a  dealer  in  stolen  wares.  He 
was  as  unprincipled  as  a  rook,  and  as  silly  as  a  jack- 
daw, first  pilfering  his  neighbour's  plumage,  and  then 
going  proudly  forth,  displaying  his  borrowed  tail  to 
the  eyes  of  a  laughing  world. 

Persons  that  were  toad-eaters  to  Mr.  John  Wesley 
stood  in  need  of  very  wide  throats,  and  that  which  he 
wished  them  to  swallow  was  enough  to  choke  an 
elephant.  He  was  for  ever  going  about  raising  Dissent- 
ing congregations,  and  building  Dissenters'  meeting- 
houses the  kingdom  over.  Yet  you  could  not  love 
the  Church,  unless  you  went  to  Wesley's  meeting- 
house: nor  be  a  friend  to  the  established  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons,  unless  you  admired  Wesley's 
ragged  legion  of  preaching  barbers,  cobblers,  tinkers, 
scavengers,  draymen,  and  chimney-sweepers. 

With  regard  to  Wesley's  personal  character,  venom 
distilled  from  his  graceless  pen.  Mr.  Whitefield  was 
blackened  by  the  venomous  quill  of  this  grey-headed 
enemy  to  all  righteousness.  Wesley  was  a  crafty 
slanderer,  an  unfeeling  reviler,  a  liar  of  the  most 
gigantic  magnitude,  a  Solomon  in  a  cassock,  a  wretch, 
a  disappointed  Orlando  Furioso,  a  miscreant  apostate, 
whose  perfection  consisted  in  his  perfect  hatred  of  all 
goodness  and  good  men. 

This  was  evidently  designed  as  a  final  and  terrific 
onslaught  on  the  champion  of  Arminianism ;  and,  in 
so  far  as  a  ramping  and  a  roaring  style  could  inspire 
terror  or  crush  opposition,  the  effort  was  doubtless 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES 


187 


successful.  But  ridicule,  though  always  unpleasant, 
sometimes  fails  of  its  effect.  It  tends  to  fail,  when  it 
is  palpably  overdone. 

As  partly  explaining  the  violence  of  these  tirades, 
it  should  be  recorded  that  Wesley's  conference  in  1776 
had  made  certain  official  pronouncements  on  Calvinism. 
It  had  been  adjudged  the  grand  hindrance  of  the  work 
of  God,  and  preachers  had  been  requested  to  pray  con- 
stantly and  earnestly  that  God  would  stop  the  plague. 
Tyerman  asks  "  Was  it  wise  to  publish  this  ? "    Voild  I 

Wesley's  Calvinistic  enemies  found  a  most  useful 
and  unscrupulous  ally  in  his  wife.  Possessing  herself 
of  some  of  his  letters,  she  wilfully  corrupted  the  text 
so  as  to  make  innocent  spiritual  allusions  yield  a  sense 
the  furthest  from  his  thoughts.  The  letters  thus 
metamorphosed  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  his 
antagonists  to  make  any  use  of  them  they  pleased. 
Of  course,  the  correspondence  was  printed  in  the 
public  journals,  and  for  a  time  the  enemies  of  Method- 
ism enjoyed  a  great  triumph.  Charles  Wesley  was 
agonised,  and  urged  his  brother  to  adopt  measures  for 
the  vindication  of  his  character.  But  the  elder  brother, 
wisely  or  unwisely,  preferred  to  do  nothing.  He  had 
become  so  used  to  every  sort  of  libel  that  he  had 
ceased  to  care  what  men  said  of  him ;  and  he  was 
almost  a  complete  stranger  to  depression.  He  once 
said  that  he  had  never  in  his  life  suffered  from  "  low- 
ness  of  spirits  "  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour — a  remarkable 
statement,  when  it  is  remembered  that,  for  thirty 
years,  he  was  burdened  with  a  wife  who  was  to  him 
all  that  a  wife  should  not  be. 

As  the  circumstances  of  Wesley's  marriage  threw 
into  relief  his  characteristic  virtues  and  defects,  and 


1 88        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


as  the  fact  itself  might  have  had  important  con- 
sequences for  Methodism,  it  will  be  necessary  to  devote 
attention  to  acts  of  stupendous  folly. 

When  Charles  Wesley  had  attained  the  mature  age 
of  forty-one,  he  entered  the  bonds  of  matrimony  with 
Miss  Sarah  Gwynne.  The  nuptial  ceremony  was  per- 
formed by  his  brother  John,  who  said  of  the  occasion 
that  it  "  was  a  solemn  day  such  as  became  the  dignity 
of  a  Christian  marriage."  The  venture  proved  success- 
ful in  every  way  except  that  it  tempered  the  bride- 
groom's ardour  for  evangelical  toil,  and  narrowed  his 
horizon  to  the  daily  round  and  common  task  of 
parochial  duty.  It  is  probable,  however,  that,  had 
he  never  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  domestic  retirement, 
Charles's  sober  disposition  and  hatred  of  notoriety 
would  have  conduced  to  the  same  result. 

From  the  time  of  this  wedding  John  Wesley  seems 
to  have  experienced  a  kind  of  unrest.  He  had  been 
used  to  take  a  severely  ascetic  view  of  marriage.  At 
twenty-seven,  he  tells  us,  he  held  it  unlawful  for  a 
priest  to  marry ;  and,  at  a  later  period,  he  could  not 
disassociate  a  suspicion  of  impurity  from  the  marriage 
bed.  Whether  he  was  still  affected  by  this  prejudice 
when  he  was  wooing  Miss  Sophy,  or  thought  it  better 
to  take  her,  impurity  and  all,  rather  than  go  without  her 
agreeable  society,  is  an  enigma,  and  a  difficult  one. 
Anyhow,  at  forty-six,  he  had  vanquished  this  scruple, 
and  to  wed  or  not  to  wed  had  come  to  be  a  question, 
not  of  lawfulness,  but  of  expediency.  By  expediency 
must  not  be  understood  worldly  prudence.  Wesley, 
disregarding  scriptural  advice,  hardly  ever  sat  down 
to  count  the  cost.  But  he  saw  no  reason  why  he 
should  not  do  as  other  men,  and  it  was  reasonable  to 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  189 


conclude  that  he  would  make  a  much  better  husband, 
father,  citizen,  and  friend  than  the  vast  majority  of 
those  who  assumed  marital  responsibilities  from  worldly 
or  carnal  motives.  Tyerman  maintains  that,  if  the 
woman  he  married  had  been  worthy  of  him,  he  would 
have  been  one  of  the  most  loving  husbands  that  ever 
lived.  Perhaps  so.  No  doubt  he  was,  in  his  awkward 
way,  affectionate.  But  sentiment,  though  too  much 
disparaged  by  professional  match  -  makers,  is  no 
adequate  basis  for  marriage.  To  do  him  justice, 
Wesley  never  supposed  that  it  was,  but  other  con- 
siderations presented  themselves  when  he  was  morally 
or  actually  committed  to  a  choice  recommended  by 
sentiment  alone. 

It  was  safe  to  predict  that  Wesley,  who  was  as 
anxious  to  obtain  a  worthy  partner  as  ever  Tyerman 
could  have  been  for  him,  would  confine  his  researches 
to  the  modest  females  of  his  own  persuasion.  His  eye 
fell  on  a  buxom  young  widow  of  twenty-six,  who 
nursed  him  through  a  week  of  biliousness  at  Newcastle. 
He  asked  her  to  be  his  wife.  Grace  Murray  was 
overwhelmed  with  joy.  She  thought  it  too  great  a 
blessing,  and  as  she  was  reluctant  to  pai*t  from  him, 
Wesley  took  her  on  a  preaching  tour  through  York- 
shire and  Derbyshire.  When  their  first  raptures  had 
subsided,  he  left  her  in  charge  of  one  of  his  preachers, 
John  Bennet.  Now  it  was  so  that  a  year  before  she 
nursed  Wesley,  Grace  Murray  had  ministered  to  this 
same  John  Bennet,  and  they  had  corresponded  ever 
since.  After  spending  some  time  with  him,  she  found 
that  it  was  the  Lord's  will  that  she  should  marry  him, 
but,  on  receipt  of  a  letter,  the  pious  coquette  thought 
better  of  this  resolve,  and  her  inclinations  again  veered 


190        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


towards  Wesley.  But  not  permanently.  Jealousy  of 
Molly  Francis  seized  her,  and  then,  once  more,  John 
Bennet  had  the  cry.  At  length  the  two  candidates 
met,  and  on  being  told  that  his  letters  to  the  lady  had 
been  regularly  forwarded  to  his  rival,  Wesley  resigned 
his  claim.  His  inamorata,  however,  refused  her  con- 
sent to  the  arrangement.  Determined  to  live  and  die 
with  him,  she  insisted  on  immediate  marriage.  There- 
upon Wesley  rehearsed  his  old  tricks.  As  he  had 
served  Sophy,  so  also  did  he  serve  Grace.  He  would 
not  marry  her  at  once,  because  he  wished — (1)  To 
satisfy  John  Bennet;  (2)  to  procure  his  brother's  con- 
sent ;  (3)  to  send  an  account  of  his  reasons  for  marrying 
to  all  the  preachers  and  societies,  and  to  desire  their 
prayers.  For  the  accomplishment  of  these  conditions 
he  thought  that  less  than  a  year  might  suffice,  but, 
whether  or  no,  the  lady  vowed  that  she  would  not 
wait  longer. 

In  all  this  Wesley  betrayed  woeful  ignorance  of 
human  nature.  Grace  had  been  flattered  by  his  notice, 
and,  like  any  other  young  woman,  relished  the  idea 
of  promotion.  But,  of  course,  she  loved  Bennet,  and 
Bennet  loved  her.  When  Wesley  spoke  of  satisfying 
Bennet,  he  spoke  of  the  impossible.  It  was  equally 
impossible  to  procure  his  brother's  consent.  Charles 
Wesley  was  not  the  man  to  tolerate  as  sister-in-law  a 
person  who  had  filled  the  humble  position  of  domestic 
servant,  and  who  was  in  no  sense  his  equal.  If  Mrs. 
Charles  Wesley  did  not  oppose  the  match  with  frantic 
and  unnatural  energy,  she  must  have  been  unlike  most 
of  her  sex.  As  much,  or  nearly  as  much,  might  be 
predicated  of  the  preachers  and  societies.  They  would 
dislike  and  disdain  the  queenship  of  a  translated 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  191 

nobody.  If  Sister  Lyddell  was  offended  because  Grace 
Murray  had  the  impudence  to  ride  into  Newcastle 
with  Wesley,  what  would  have  been  her  feelings  if 
bidden  to  salute  her  as  his  wife  ?  Perhaps  she  would 
have  done  as  requested,  and  prayed  for  him,  but  it 
requires  an  effort  to  imagine  that  she  would  have 
prayed  for  her. 

Apprised  of  his  brother's  intentions,  Charles  lost 
no  time  in  placing  the  consequences  before  him.  The 
preachers  would  inevitably  "  strike."  The  societies 
would  break  up — in  fact,  were  breaking  up.  John, 
however,  was  obdurate.  Charles  then  turned  to  the 
would-be  bride.  He  met  her,  kissed  her,  and  cried, 
"Grace  Murray,  you  have  broken  my  heart."  This 
was  a  singular  greeting,  but  Charles  was  wily,  and 
the  lady  understood  him  perfectly.  He  coaxed  Grace 
to  Newcastle,  and  to  Bennet.  The  impulsive  female 
threw  herself  at  her  lover's  feet — she  implored  his 
forgiveness — and  within  a  week  they  were  wedded  at 
St.  Andrew's  Church. 

John  vehemently  resented  this  interference  of 
Charles,  and  when  next  he  contemplated  matrimony, 
was  careful  not  to  stipulate  for  his  brother's  acqui- 
escence. Faithful  John  and  fickle  Grace  were  married 
towards  the  end  of  September  1745.  In  July  of  the 
same  year,  Charles  had  been  introduced  at  Edward 
Perronet's  to  a  "  woman  of  sorrowful  spirit."  She  was 
a  Mrs.  Vazeille.  In  1750  this  lady  accompanied  him 
on  a  visit  to  his  wife's  relations ;  and,  on  her  return, 
entertained  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wesley  for  some  eight  or 
nine  days  at  her  home  in  London.  On  February  2, 
1751,  he  records  the  outcome  of  these  civilities.  "  My 
brother  told  me  he  was  resolved  to  marry.    I  was 


192        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


thunderstruck,  and  could  only  answer  he  had  given 
me  the  first  blow,  and  his  marriage  would  come  like 
a  coup  de  grace.  Trusty  Ned  Perronet  followed,  and 
told  me  the  person  was  Mrs.  Vazeille ! — one  of  whom 
I  never  had  the  least  suspicion.  I  refused  his  com- 
pany to  the  chapel,  and  retired  to  mourn  with  my 
faithful  Sally.  I  groaned  all  the  day,  and  several 
following  ones,  under  my  own  and  the  people's 
burdens.  I  could  eat  no  pleasant  food,  nor  preach, 
nor  rest,  either  by  night  or  by  day." 

These  expressions  leave  us  in  no  doubt  what 
Charles's  reply  would  have  been  if  John  had  been  so 
indiscreet  as  to  ask  his  consent.  Experience  had  taught 
him  more  than  one  lesson,  and  he  had  probably  come 
to  think  that  Charles  would  never,  under  any  circum- 
stances, have  given  consent  to  his  marriage.  This  time  he 
contented  himself  with  an  approving  conscience  and  the 
general  sanction  of  the  Rev.  Vincent  Perronet,  already 
mentioned  as  a  warm  friend  and  sympathiser.  "  Having 
received  a  full  answer  from  Mr.  Perronet,  I  was  clearly 
convinced  that  I  ought  to  marry.  For  many  years  I 
remained  single,  because  I  believed  I  could  be  more 
useful  in  a  single  than  in  a  married  state.  And  I 
praise  God,  who  enabled  me  so  to  do.  I  now  as  fully 
believed  that,  in  my  present  circumstances,  I  might  be 
more  useful  in  a  married  state." 

Although  Wesley  conceived  that,  personally,  he 
might  be  of  more  use  in  a  married  state,  he  was  far 
from  thinking  that  all  single  men  should  follow  his 
example.  Four  days  after  he  had  acquainted  his 
brother  with  his  resolution,  he  met  the  bachelors  of 
the  society  in  London,  and  pointed  out  for  how  many 
reasons  "  it  was  good  for  those  who  had  received  that 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  193 

gift  from  God  to  remain  single  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven's  sake,  unless  where  a  particular  case  might  be 
an  exception  to  the  general  rule."  It  would  have  been 
more  satisfactory,  perhaps,  if  Wesley  had  recanted 
entirely.  It  has  been  said  that  he  did  not  recant  his 
opinions,  but  added  to,  or  modified,  them,  whereas  he 
did  recant  persons.  On  this  occasion  he  recanted 
himself.1 

It  seems  likely  that  the  precariousness  of  his  pre- 
sent views,  the  memory  of  his  former  vacillations,  and 
his  recent  taste  of  female  inconstancy,  caused  Wesley 
to  reflect  that  delays  are  dangerous.  Who  knew  but 
Mrs.  Vazeille  might  have  two  strings  to  her  bow,  or,  as 
it  might  be  expressed  with  equal  propriety,  two  beaus 
to  her  string  ? 

Wesley  ran  no  unnecessary  risks.  After  a  brief 
courtship  of  sixteen  days  at  the  most,  he  led  her, 
apparently  nothing  loth,  to  the  altar.  According  to 
the  fashion  of  the  period,  the  Gentleman's  Magazine 
thus  announced  the  event :  "  February  18. — Rev.  Mr. 
John  Wesley,  Methodist  preacher,  to  a  merchant's 
widow  in  Threadneedle  Street,  with  a  jointure  of 
£300  per  annum."  There  were  four  children,  and  the 
bride's  foi'tune — £10,100  invested  in  three  per  cent, 
consols — was  secured  to  her  and  them. 

Wesley  therefore  was  not  quite  the  happy  man  that 
he  appeared,  even  from  a  financier's  standpoint.    It  is 

1  Rowland  Hill,  in  his  Rei*iew  and  Farrago  Doublc-distillcd,  tackled 
Wesley  on  this  seeming  inconsistency.  "  Mr.  W.  says  that  his  thoughts 
on  a  single  life  are  just  the  same  as  they  have  been  these  thirty  years. 
Why  then  did  he  marry?"  Wesley's  first  answer  was,  "For  reasons 
best  known  to  himself."  This  he  afterwards  explained  by  adding,  "As 
much  as  to  say,  I  judge  it  extremely  impertinent  for  any  but  a  superior 
to  ask  me  the  question." 


194        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


hard  to  say  how  far  he  was  actuated  in  his  choice  hy 
the  circumstance  of  Mrs.  Vazeille  possessing  private 
means.  Wesley  was  in  no  sense  avaricious,  but  he 
might  have  deemed  it  an  advantage  that,  in  marry- 
ing, he  would  impose  no  fresh  burden  on  the  societies. 
Without  controversy,  he  imposed  a  fresh  and  very 
heavy  burden  on  himself. 

Mrs.  Vazeille  was  no  angel ;  she  was  indeed — in  the 
language  of  St.  Paul — a  messenger  of  Satan,  sent  to 
buffet  him.  At  first  she  went  with  him  on  his  journeys 
and  interested  herself  in  the  welfare  of  his  societies. 
Whether,  however,  her  presence  was  calculated  to 
enhance  her  husband's  influence  is  extremely  doubtful. 
Prior  to  her  first  marriage,  she  appears  to  have  been 
a  not  too  respectable  domestic  servant,  and  was 
still  very  illiterate.  On  those  or  similar  grounds 
both  Charles  and  his  beloved  Sally  treated  her  with 
coolness;  and,  as  she  was  a  woman  of  jealous  and 
violent  temper,  and  had  reigned  supreme  over  the 
late  Mr.  Vazeille,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  she 
visited  this  coolness  on  John. 

His  prospects  of  happiness  had  now  become  very 
small,  but  Wesley  was  foolish  enough  to  lessen  them 
by  a  Platonic  friendship  with  Sarah  Ryan,  a  magdalen 
whom  he  had  installed  as  his  housekeeper  at  Bristol. 
He  corresponded  with  this  woman  in  unguarded  terms. 
"  You  have  refreshed  my  bowels  in  the  Lord.  I  not 
only  excuse,  but  welcome  your  simplicity ;  and  what- 
ever freedom  you  use,  it  will  be  welcome."  He  asked 
her  about  her  dreams.  "  Is  there  no  vanity  or  folly  in 
your  dreams  ? — no  temptation  that  almost  overcomes 
you  ?  And  are  you  then  as  sensible  of  the  presence  of 
God,  and  as  full  of  prayer,  as  when  you  are  waking  ? " 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  195 


While  her  husband  cannot  be  acquitted  of  indis- 
cretion, Mrs.  Wesley  revelled  and  rioted  in  suspicions. 
She  affirmed,  and  perhaps  believed,  that  Charles's 
immaculate  Sally  had  been  for  years  his  brother's 
mistress.  John  complained  to  Sarah  Ryan  that  he  was 
"  continually  watched  over  for  evil,"  and  that  his  fond 
words  were  requited  by  "  a  thousand  little  tart  unkind 
reflections."  Unhappily,  his  sorrows  were  not  confined 
to  espionage  and  abuse.  Considering  the  kind  of  state- 
ments she  bandied  about  in  public,  it  will  occasion  no 
surprise  that,  in  private,  his  wife  bandied  about  John 
Wesley  himself.  Herculean  John  Hampson,  in  an 
address  to  his  son,  casts  a  powerful  side-light  on  their 
domestic  relations. 

"  Jack,"  he  said,  "  I  was  once  on  the  point  of  com- 
mitting murder.  Once,  when  I  was  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  I  went  into  a  room  and  found  Mrs.  Wesley 
foaming  with  fury.  Her  husband  was  on  the  floor, 
where  she  had  been  trailing  him  by  the  hair  of  his 
head;  and  she  herself  was  still  holding  in  her  hand 
venerable  locks  which  she  had  plucked  up  by  the 
roots.  I  felt  as  if  I  could  have  knocked  the  soul  out 
of  her." 

About  this  time  Wesley  penned  and  sent  to  his  wife 
what  Tyerman  designates  a  "manly,  noble,  loving 
letter,"  which  ought,  he  thinks,  to  have  produced  a 
good  effect.  The  epithets  will  serve,  for  Wesley's 
patience  was  indeed  wonderful.  As  diplomacy,  the 
effort  was  contemptible.  In  the  first  place,  the  letter 
was  argumentative,  and  an  angry  woman  pays  no  heed 
to  argument.  Secondly,  it  was  historical.  It  raked 
up  his  wrongs  in  order  to  show  what  a  good  man  he 
was,  and  how  fortunate  she  might  deem  herself  in 


196        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


possessing  him.  It  began  by  assuming  that  she  was 
the  subject  of  divine  chastisement,  and,  to  convince 
her  thereof,  criticised  her  offspring.  God  had  given 
her  a  dutiful,  but  sickly  daughter.  He  had  taken 
away  one  of  her  sons.  Another  had  been  a  "  grievous 
cross,"  and  the  third  would  probably  turn  out  as  bad. 
It  was  not  chary  of  good  advice.  "  Do  not  any  longer 
contend  for  mastery,  for  power,  money,  or  praise.  Be 
content  to  be  a  private,  insignificant  person,  known 
and  loved  by  God  and  me."  In  conclusion,  it  tells  her 
that,  if  she  would  allow  him  to  be  governed  by  God 
and  his  own  conscience,  he,  for  his  part,  would  govern 
her  with  gentle  sway.  Wesley  had  yet  to  prove  that 
he  could  govern  her  at  all.  To  speak  of  governing 
such  a  wife  was  at  once  impolitic  and  laughable,  unless 
he  was  prepared  to  enact  the  taming  of  a  shrew. 

On,  or  of,  January  23,  1771,  Wesley  wrote  in  his 
Journal,  "  For  what  cause  I  know  not,  my  wife  set 
out  for  Newcastle,  purposing  never  to  return.  Non 
earn  reliqui ;  non  dimisi ;  non  revocabo."  These 
stately  expressions  have  somewhat  the  effect  of  Caesar's 
veni,  vidi,  vici,  though  it  is  obvious  that  Wesley's 
methods  were  not  those  of  Caesar.  Mrs.  Wesley  had 
gone  on  a  long  visit  to  her  "dutiful,  but  sickly" 
daughter,  who  had  married  a  Mr.  Smith.  Fourteen 
months  later,  the  elderly  pair  again  came  together. 
The  matter  is  too  grave  for  a  jest,  but,  really,  there  is 
something  in  this  flight  of  groundless  jealousy  and 
Wesley's  non  dimisi;  non  revocabo  that  irresistibly 
suggests  Mr.  Baring  -  Gould's  witty  little  tale,  "  A 
Runaway  Wife."  Comparison  of  the  cases  teaches 
that  ordinary,  unambitious  people,  well-matched,  have 
a  far  better  hope  of  composing  their  differences  than 


MIRACLES  AND  MYSTERIES  197 


such  couples  as  Wesley  and  his  wife,  each  endued  with 
a  taste  and  a  talent  for  ruling.  Mrs.  Wesley  was 
desirous  of  managing  her  husband,  of  making  him 
exclusively  her  own.  When  his  soaring  spirit  rose 
superior  to  her  toils,  all  that  was  evil  in  her  nature 
asserted  itself. 

In  1778  he  wrote  to  her  from  Bristol :  "  If  you  were 
to  live  a  thousand  years,  you  could  not  undo  the  mis- 
chief you  have  done ;  and  until  you  have  done  all  you 
can  towards  it,  I  bid  you  farewell."  On  October  8, 
1781,  Wesley's  evil  genius  set  out  for  some  other 
sphere  than  Newcastle. 

The  entries  in  Wesley's  Journal  were,  it  is  plain, 
not  always  made  on  the  dates  to  which  they  refer. 
Thus,  under  "October  12,"  he  remarks,  "I  came  to 
London,  and  was  informed  that  my  wife  died  on 
Monday.  This  evening  she  was  buried,  though  I  was 
not  informed  of  it  till  a  day  or  two  after."  Wesley 
adds  no  comment,  and  the  inscription  on  her  tomb 
reveals  a  striking  omission.  "  A  woman  of  exemplary 
piety,  a  tender  parent,  and  a  sincere  friend" — thus 
runs  the  epitaph.  But  Southey  says  of  her  that  "  she 
deserves  to  be  classed  with  Xanthippe,  and  the  wife  of 
Job,  as  one  of  the  three  bad  wives."  Of  her  fortune, 
now  reduced  by  one  half,  he  received  not  one  penny,  but 
she  left  him  a  ring.  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  marriage  is 
a  great  mystery.  It  is  always  that,  but  to  Wesley  it 
must  have  appeared  a  mystery  of  iniquity. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 

Out  of  Place  —  Charity  —  Principles  of  Methodism  and  the 
Eeformation  Contrasted  —  Wesley  no  Sectary  —  Early 
Aspirations — Character  and  Constituents  of  Methodism — 
Origin  of  the  Class-Meeting— Precedents — Lay-Preachers — 
Education — Hymnology — Methodism  in  America — Ordina- 
tions— Episcopal  Eesentment — Wesley  in  Old  Age — Death 
and  Burial — A  Man. 

The  incidents  of  Wesley's  courtships  and  marriage 
tend  to  obscure  his  extraordinary  abilities,  and  it  must 
be  conceded  that  they  disclose  an  element  of  weakness. 
He  had  the  gift  of  continence,  but  he  had  not  the  gift 
of  discernment  of  spirits,  nor  the  gift  of  judgment, 
nor  the  gift  of  tact.  The  moment  he  approached  the 
delicate  questions  involved  in  the  distinction  of  sex, 
his  mental  apparatus  seemed  to  fail.  He  was  either 
too  slow  or  too  fast.  He  was  less  absorbed  than 
absorbing.    He  demanded  homage,  obedience. 

Though  the  results  were  less  miserably  obvious,  the 
same  incapacity  displayed  itself  in  every  relation  of 
life  which  Wesley  was  not  permitted  to  dominate.  He 
could  bear  with  a  superior  of  his  own  appointing,  one 
whom  he  could  dismiss  at  pleasure.  He  bore  with 
Zinzendorf,  for  instance.     He  could  bear  even  with 

198 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  199 


bishops  and  archbishops,  if  they  kept  their  place  and 
did  not  obstruct  his  personal  schemes.  A  copartner, 
however,  insisting  on  perfect  equality,  he  could  not, 
and  would  not,  bear;  and  he  bowed  to  no  authority 
save  God  and  his  own  conscience. 

Now  Wesley  was  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England. 
He  acknowledged  her  as  a  branch  of  the  Church 
Catholic.  He  served,  and  loved,  and  honoured  her. 
But  successive  Prime  Ministers  neglected  to  make  him 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  thus  Wesley  was  pre- 
vented from  accomplishing  his  task  without  schism. 
Not  that  he  was  ambitious — at  least,  in  any  vulgar 
sense — of  that  great  office,  but,  seated  in  the  chair  of 
St.  Augustine,  he  might  have  converted  the  Church  into 
a  hotbed  of  Methodism.  The  only  possible  alternative 
was  to  recognise  him  as  a  Black  Pope.  The  constitution 
of  the  English  Church  knew  nothing  of  Black  Popes, 
and  so  in  the  end  there  was  no  stopping  the  projection 
into  space  of  new  Dissenting  bodies — not  hostile,  like 
the  old,  but  still  separate  and  distinct  from  the  parent 
luminary. 

This  result  Wesley  neither  desired  nor  anticipated. 
His  brother  Samuel,  with  a  keener  foresight  than  his 
own,  detected  at  the  outset  the  tendency  of  the  move- 
ment, and  said  in  his  haste,  "  they  design  separation." 
There  Samuel  was  wrong.  Separation  would  happen ; 
separation  was  latent  in  the  conditions  ;  but  separation 
was  nobody's  design.  Six  years  later,  in  his  Earnest 
Appeal,  John  Wesley  ridiculed  the  notion  as  too  pre- 
posterous for  mention.  "  '  But  why,  then,'  say  some, 
'  do  you  leave  the  Church  ? '  Leave  the  Church!  What 
do  you  mean  ?  Do  we  leave  so  much  as  the  church 
walls?     Your  own  eyes  tell  you  we  do  not  


200        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


You  have  retailed  a  sentence  from  somebody  else, 
which  you  no  more  understand  than  he.  And  no 
marvel ;  for  it  is  a  true  observation, 

'  Nonsense  is  never  to  be  understood.' " 

The  Methodist  societies,  however,  were  not  pure 
Church  institutions.  Had  that  been  the  case,  had  they 
existed  to  entrap  Dissenters,  it  is  possible  that  Wesley 
might  have  been  applauded  for  his  Jesuitical  aim. 
But  he  never  attempted  proselytism.  Dissenters  were 
free  to  join  the  societies ;  and,  having  joined  them,  were 
free  to  participate  in  the  services  of  their  chosen  sect. 
The  core  of  union  was  what  was,  or  was  believed  to  be, 
the  essence  of  Christianity.  As  regards  non-essentials, 
the  utmost  latitude  was  allowed.  The  large  charity 
was  epitomised  in  Wesley's  watchword,  "  The  friends 
of  all,  the  enemies  of  none."  But  the  Methodists  could 
not  avoid  giving  offence.  Their  motives  were  miscon- 
strued. Their  fraternal  sentiments  were  attributed, 
not  to  any  kindliness  of  heart,  but  to  a  certain  quality 
of  head,  to  the  unjust  possession  of  brains.  This 
might  have  been  accepted  as  a  compliment,  but  the 
critics  did  their  best,  by  judicious  admixture  of  blame, 
not  to  spoil  them  by  flattery. 

A  Review  of  their  policy,  doctrines,  and  morals — a 
work  already  alluded  to  in  these  pages — thus  contrasts 
Methodist  principles  with  the  principles  of  the  Great 
Reformation.  "  The  first  thing  which  strikes  an 
observer  is  the  accommodating  nature  of  their  prin- 
ciples and  conduct.  They  become  all  things  to  all 
men.  The  Methodists  are  a  singular  phenomenon  in 
the  religious  world.  They  stand  up  as  a  particular 
sect,  but  at  the  same  time  receive  into  their  bosom 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


people  of  very  different  persuasions,  all  retaining  their 
original  professions.  Their  principles  are  neither 
liberal  nor  tolerant,  and  yet  people  of  the  most  opposite 
sentiments  unite  in  this  society.  When  the  Reformers 
broke  off  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  when  other 
sectaries  revolted  from  established  churches,  their  first 
step  was  always  to  possess  their  followers  with  the 
most  irreconcilable  aversion  to  the  mother  churches, 
and,  in  a  stubborn  and  headstrong  humour,  to  tear 
asunder  all  the  ties  that  formed  the  original  connection. 
The  consequence  was  the  spirit  of  party  broke  forth ; 
mutual  antipathy  took  place  ;  each  side  became  armed 
with  hatred  and  jealousy ;  and  every  avenue  was 
carefully  guarded  on  either  side  against  all  future 
intercourse  or  connection. 

"  Quite  different  and  much  more  perfect  has  been 
the  policy  of  the  Methodists.  It  has  been  dictated  by  a 
sound  head  and  a  cool  heart.  Hurried  on  by  no  violence 
of  zeal,  they  have  stolen  in  upon  the  prejudices,  and, 
without  alarming,  have  insinuated  themselves  into  the 
hearts  of  mankind.  They  are  taught  never  to  desert 
(at  least,  nominally)  their  original  profession.  They 
frequent  the  ordinances  of  their  respective  original 
societies ;  they  adhere  to  all  their  forms.  Hence  living 
upon  good  terms  with  their  former  brethren,  they 
have  a  free  intercourse  and  communion  with  all  their 
members.  They  have  an  opportunity  of  insinuating 
themselves  into  their  favour  and  good  graces ;  and  by 
superior  pretensions  to  religion  they  have  a  claim  also 
upon  their  respect. 

"  Here  then  are  great  advantages  in  making  pro- 
selytes. The  Reformers  and  the  sectaries,  however 
sincere  and  honest,  certainly  acted  with  too  much  zeal 


202        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


and  bitterness  to  gain  followers;  but  the  Methodists 
conduct  themselves  with  all  the  good  management  of 
the  most  able  politicians.  The  hearts  of  the  former 
were  too  much  interested  to  employ  address,  whilst  the 
latter  sap  the  foundation  of  their  antagonists  without 
the  declaration  of  hostilities.  By  a  professed  adher- 
ence to  original  principles,  they  make  the  attack 
without  creating  the  suspicion  of  their  design ;  and 
hence  the  new  converts  become  insensibly  transformed 
without  feeling  the  shock  that  an  immediate  rupture 
would  produce.  Into  this  body  are  collected  people  of 
all  persuasions;  and  all  their  several  differences  are 
covered  over  with  the  broad  cloak  of  Methodism." 

These  statements  deserve  consideration,  as  the  writer, 
with  all  his  ill-will,  makes  it  plain  that  Wesley  was  no 
intentional  schismatic,  that  he  aimed  at  uniting,  not  at 
dividing,  Christians.  The  Methodists,  however,  are 
credited  with  more  than  Machiavelian  astuteness. 
Their  liberality,  it  is  said,  was  a  ruse.  Now,  it  is  a  fact 
that  Wesley  had  great  talents  for  organisation,  and  he 
was  assuredly  not  less  acute  than  his  reviewer.  Quite 
possibly,  therefore,  on  looking  back,  he  may  have  seen 
that  pacific  comprehension  had  aided  in  extending 
Methodism.  But  the  thought  did  not  enter  into  his 
schemes.  Indeed,  he  expressly  disclaimed,  both  for  his 
brother  and  himself,  the  ambition  of  heading  a  sect. 
They  were  drawn,  he  maintained,  into  that  position, 
for  which  they  had  no  natural  inclination,  by  the 
irresistible  current  of  events. 

"  Yet  I  cannot  but  remind  considerate  men  in  how 
remarkable  a  manner  the  wisdom  of  God  has  for  many 
years  guarded  against  this  pretence,  with  respect  to 
my  brother  and  me  in  particular.    Scarce  any  two 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


men  in  Great  Britain,  of  our  rank,  have  been  so  held  out 
as  it  were  to  all  the  world ;  especially  of  those  who  from 
their  childhood  had  always  loved  and  studiously  sought 
retirement.  And  I  had  procured  what  I  sought.  I 
was  quite  safe,  as  I  supposed,  in  a  little  country  town, 
when  I  was  required  to  take  charge  of  some  young 
gentlemen  by  Dr.  Morley,  the  only  man  then  in 
England  to  whom  I  could  deny  nothing.  From  that 
time  both  my  brother  and  I  (utterly  against  our  will) 
came  to  be  more  and  more  observed  and  known,  till  we 
were  more  spoken  of  than  perhaps  two  so  inconsider- 
able persons  ever  were  before  in  the  nation.  To  make 
us  more  public  still,  as  honest  madmen  at  least,  by  a 
strange  concurrence  of  providences,  overturning  all 
our  preceding  resolutions,  we  were  hurried  away  to 
America.  However,  at  our  return  from  thence,  we 
were  resolved  to  retire  out  of  the  world  at  once,  being 
sated  with  noise,  hurry,  and  fatigue,  and  seeking 
nothing  but  to  be  at  rest.  Indeed,  for  a  long  season, 
the  greatest  pleasure  I  had  desired  on  this  side  eternity 
was — 

'Taciturn  sylvas  inter  reptare  salubres, 
Quserentem  quidquid  dignum  sapiente  bonoque.' 1 
And  we  had  attained  our  desire.  We  wanted  nothing. 
We  looked  for  nothing  more  in  this  world,  when 
we  were  dragged  out  again  by  earnest  importunity  to 
preach  at  one  place,  and  another,  and  another,  and 
so  carried  on,  we  knew  not  how,  without  any  design 
but  the  general  one  of  saving  souls,  into  a  situation 
which,  had  it  been  named  to  us  at  first,  would  have 
appeared  far  worse  than  death  "  (Farther  Appeal). 

1,1  To  glide  in  silence  'mid  the  healthful  woods, 
Seeking  wliate'er  becomes  the  good  and  wise." 


204        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


These  utterances  suggest  that  Wesley  would  have 
chosen  a  life  like  Wordsworth's,  and  the  entire  indif- 
ference they  express  to  the  common  sources  of  happiness 
— the  very  language — necessarily  reminds  us  of  the 
sonnets  on  "  Personal  Talk,"  notably  the  lines  : 

"Better  than  such  discourse  doth  silence  long, 
Long  barren  silence  square  with  my  desire  ; 
To  sit  without  emotion,  hope,  or  aim, 
In  the  loud  presence  of  my  cottage-fire, 
And  listen  to  the  flapping  of  the  flame, 
Or  kettle  whispering  its  faint  undersong." 

And,  again : 

"  Wings  have  we — and  as  far  as  we  can  go, 
We  may  find  pleasure  :  wilderness  and  wood, 
Blank  ocean  and  mere  sky  support  that  mood 
Which  with  the  lofty  sanctifies  the  low. 
Dreams,  books  are  each  a  world  ;  and  books  we  know 
Are  a  substantial  world,  both  pure  and  good." 

But  Wordsworth  was  not  only  a  recluse — he  was  also 
a  traveller ;  and  with  this  propensity  also  Wesley 
would  have  sympathised.  During  his  father's  life 
he  journeyed  between  Oxford  and  Epworth  on  foot, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  the  exercise,  and  partly  that  he 
might  have  more  to  bestow  in  charity.  As  he  preached 
on  the  Sundays  he  may  be  said,  even  then,  to  have 
already  begun  his  missionary  career.  Of  his  later 
travels  in  America  and  Germany  it  is  needless  to  speak 
further.  The  habits  thus  formed  may  have  rendered 
it  hard  for  him  to  settle  down  to  a  stationary  exist- 
ence. At  any  rate,  the  care  of  the  societies  which  he 
proceeded  to  plant  all  over  the  United  Kingdom  left 
him  no  option  but  to  go  to  and  fro  in  the  earth.  His 
life  thenceforth  was  one  continual  migration. 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


205 


If  the  parochial  clergy  had  shown  themselves  will- 
ing to  co-operate,  this  vast  work  of  pastoral  visitation 
would  have  been  obviated.  But,  with  few  exceptions, 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  persisted  in  regarding  the 
movement  as  a  new  and  insidious  form  of  Dissent. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  Wesley's  aim  ;  nor  was 
it  for  many,  many  years,  anything  of  a  fact.  He 
drew  the  bulk  of  his  converts  from  the  teeming 
multitudes  who  acknowledged  neither  Church  nor 
Dissent;  and,  except  in  the  case  of  Dissenters,  he 
always  encouraged  attendance  at  Church  services, 
particularly  at  Holy  Communion.  In  spite  of  the 
anonymous  critic,  the  Dissenting  element  was  probably 
at  no  time  very  large.  At  all  events,  in  1763  Wesley 
could  say  that  most  of  his  adherents  were  "  Church  of 
England  men."  The  result  of  his  labours  ought  there- 
fore to  have  been  an  enormous  accession  of  strength, 
both  moral  and  numerical,  to  the  Church  of  which  he 
was  a  minister.  But  almost  everywhere  the  use  of 
her  pulpits  was  forbidden  him ;  and  Wesley,  when  not 
actively  opposed,  was  freely  ostracised  by  the  estab- 
lished clergy.  Under  these  circumstances,  Methodism 
entered  on  a  series  of  adaptations. 

It  may  perhaps  be  remarked  that  Wesley  was  hardly 
in  a  position  to  assail  the  clergy  for  their  lack  of 
sympathy.  In  the  first  place,  the  Methodists  had 
identified  themselves  with  the  Moravians ;  and  Wesley, 
as  a  High  Church  clergyman  in  Georgia,  had  shown 
what  he  thought  of  the  ecclesiastical  status  of  the 
German  sectaries  by  driving  from  the  Lord's  Table 
the  good  and  worthy  Martin  Bolzius.  In  the  second 
place,  the  Methodist  Society  had  been  formed  by  schism 
from  the  Moravian  fraternity.    Wesley  was  not  only  a 


206        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


doctrinal  weathercock,  but  did  not  hesitate,  when  his 
principles  and  theirs  no  longer  agreed,  to  turn  his  back 
on  old  friends.  He  could  not  complain,  then,  if  his 
brethren  the  clergy  followed  the  same  course  with  him. 

The  phrase  "  Methodist  Society "  is  technically  a 
misnomer.  Originally,  Methodism  consisted  of  a 
number  of  "  societies,"  which,  however,  were  soon  knit 
into  a  "  connexion."  Of  late  years  the  "  connexion  " 
has  been  dignified  by  the  name  of  the  "  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church,"  but  Wesley's  description  of  his 
disciples,  in  their  collective  capacity,  was  "  the  people 
called  Methodists."  By  adopting  this  style,  he  tacitly 
protested  against  the  term  "  Methodist,"  which  had 
been  forced  upon  him  from  without.  At  the  same 
time  he  showed,  by  the  colourless  and  almost  colloquial 
word  "  people,"  that  he  considered  the  Methodist  con- 
nexion as  neither  Church  nor  Sect.  Wider,  more 
universal  than  the  Church  of  England,  inasmuch  as 
it  included  Dissenters,  it  was  still  not  an  adverse,  but 
a  friendly  organisation. 

The  earliest  Methodist  society  was  established,  in 
1740,  at  the  chapel  in  Moorfields.  This  example  was 
followed  in  the  other  great  centre  of  the  Methodist 
propaganda,  Bristol ;  and  it  was  at  Bristol  that  the 
next  important  change  was  carried  into  operation. 
It  seems  that  some  discussion  arose  regarding  the 
pecuniary  support  of  the  cause,  and  it  was  resolved 
for  the  sake  of  convenience  to  divide  the  society  into 
classes.  Persons  were  appointed  to  visit  the  members 
of  these  classes  and  collect  what  was  a  sort  of  Peter's 
pence.  For  Wesley's  tax  was  not  exorbitant.  A 
penny  a  week,  and  a  shilling  a  quarter — that  was  all. 
A  share  of  the  contributions  was  expended  on  sick 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  207 


members,  so  that  the  Methodist  class  might  be  con- 
sidered as  partaking  of  the  nature  of  a  benefit  club. 

The  question  of  finance  thus  settled,  Wesley — whose 
errand  was,  of  course,  to  save  souls — conceived  the 
idea  of  spiritualising  these  units.  It  would  be  a  good 
thing,  he  thought,  if  the  members  would  meet  period- 
ically, for  mutual  counsel  and  consolation,  under  the 
presidency  of  some  devout  and  intelligent  leader. 
The  idea  was  soon  translated  into  practice;  and  the 
"  class-meeting  "  was,  and  remains,  the  most  charac- 
teristic product  of  Methodism.  Externally,  indeed, 
Methodism  owes  much  of  its  permanence  and  stability 
to  the  class-meeting.  Whitefield  did  not  set  much  store 
by  this  institution.  He  considered  that  preaching  was 
his  business,  and  left  the  pastoral  side  of  Methodism, 
its  systematic  development,  to  others.  The  con- 
sequence is  that,  even  in  America,  though  White- 
field  spent  many  more  years  in  that  hemisphere, 
American  Methodism  bears  the  impress  of  Wesley. 

It  was  nevertheless  with  no  far-reaching  intentions 
that  Wesley  established  either  societies  or  classes. 
He  thought,  not  of  the  generations  to  come,  but  of  the 
generation  in  being.  He  studied  how  he  might  best 
conserve  the  fruits  of  his  ministry,  how  he  might 
restrain  his  converts  from  lapsing  into  indifference, 
infidelity,  or  vice.  It  is  noticeable  that,  although  he 
lived  to  hear  Whitefield  spoken  of  as  a  better  church- 
man than  himself,  Wesley  rather  piqued  himself  on 
the  circumstance  that,  in  thus  garnering  souls,  he  was 
reviving  a  practice  of  the  primitive  Church.  "  Upon 
reflection,"  he  says,  "  I  could  not  but  observe  that  this 
is  the  very  thing  which  was  from  the  beginning  of 
Christianity.    In  the  earliest  times,  those  whom  God 


2o8        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


had  sent  forth  '  preached  the  gospel  to  every  creature.' 
The  body  of  hearers  were  mostly  either  Jews  or 
heathens.  But  as  soon  as  any  of  these  were  so  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  as  to  forsake  sin  and  seek  the 
gospel  of  salvation,  they  immediately  joined  them 
together,  took  an  account  of  their  names,  advised  them 
to  watch  over  each  other,  and  met  these  zarjjp^i^evo/, 
catechumens,  as  they  were  then  called,  apart  from  the 
great  congregation,  that  they  might  instruct,  rebuke, 
exhort,  and  pray  with  them,  and  for  them,  according 
to  their  several  necessities." 

To  those  who  seemed  likely  not  to  dishonour  the 
society  by  levity  and  misconduct,  Wesley  gave  a  certi- 
ficate— a  ticket.  The  ticket  held  good  only  for  three 
months.  At  the  expiration  of  that  term  it  was 
Wesley's  intention  to  talk  with  each  member  and 
ascertain  for  himself  whether  he,  or  she,  were  worthy 
of  a  renewal  of  confidence.  With  his  love  of  precedent 
and  hatred  of  novelty,  Wesley  is  careful  to  note  that 
these  tickets  were  of  the  same  force  as  the  eviaroXcti 
<sverurr/.ai,  "  commendatory  letters "  mentioned  by  the 
apostle.  They  were  the  current  coin  of  Methodist 
fellowship. 

Temptations  were  around,  and  often  they  were 
temptations  that  could  not  be  made  known  in  a  mixed 
assembly.  To  provide  for  these  cases  Wesley  sub- 
divided the  classes  into  yet  smaller  groups— married 
or  single  men  ;  married  or  single  women.  These  little 
companies  were  called  bands — "  an  old  English  word," 
says  Wesley — and  the  leader  was  required,  after 
making  full  confession  himself,  to  put  to  each  member 
many  searching  questions  regarding  his  state,  and 
sins,  and  temptations. 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  209 


On  one  evening  in  every  quai-ter  all  the  men  "in 
band,"  on  another  all  the  women,  and  on  a  third  men 
and  women  together  met  to  "  eat  bread  "  after  the 
fashion  of  the  ancient  Christians,  in  grateful  acknow- 
ledgment of  God's  mercies.  "  At  these  love-feasts 
(so  we  term  them,  retaining  the  name  as  well  as  the 
thing  which  was  in  use  from  the  beginning)  our  food 
is  only  a  little  plain  cake  and  water.  But  we  seldom 
return  from  them  without  being  fed  not  only  with 
the  '  meat  which  perisheth,'  but  with  '  that  which 
endureth  to  everlasting  life.' " 

It  is  clear  that  so  complex  and  delicate  an  organisa- 
tion demanded,  in  order  that  it  might  be  permanent, 
something  more  than  quarterly  inspection.  Wesley 
found  on  experience  that  societies,  left  to  themselves, 
were  in  constant  peril  of  dissolution.  "  What,"  he 
asks,  "  was  to  be  done  in  a  case  of  so  extreme  necessity, 
where  so  many  souls  lay  at  stake  ?  No  clergyman 
would  assist  at  all.  The  expedient  that  remained  was 
to  find  some  one  among  themselves,  who  was  upright 
of  heart,  and  of  sound  judgment  in  the  things  of  God, 
and  to  desire  him  to  meet  the  rest  as  often  as  he  could, 
in  order  to  confirm  them,  as  he  was  able,  in  the  ways 
of  God,  either  by  reading  to  them,  or  by  prayer,  or 
by  exhortation."  Accordingly,  he  appointed  John 
Cennick  to  the  charge  of  the  society  in  Kings  wood, 
while  Thomas  Maxfield  superintended  the  interests  of 
Methodism  in  London. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  functions  of  these 
laymen  were  confined  to  the  pastoral  oversight  of  each 
flock.  They  were  not  supposed — indeed,  they  were 
supposed  not — to  preach.  Only  men  who  had  been 
regularly  ordained  by  episcopal  hands  were  reputed  fit 
14 


2io        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


to  be  ambassadors,  and  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
Maxfield,  however,  installed  in  the  seat  of  authority, 
took  heart  of  grace,  and  began,  not  only  to  expound, 
but,  sans  fagon,  to  preach.  There  was  never  much 
difference  in  principle,  and  in  practice  Maxfield's  self- 
election  was  justified  by  the  results.  He  was  able  and 
talented,  and  success  crowned  his  efforts.  But  the 
step  was  irregular — it  was  a  breach  of  discipline ; 
and  Wesley  hastened  to  London  to  hold  an  inquisition 
on  the  subject.  He  was  more  than  half -disposed  to 
rebuke  and  restrain  the  innovator. 

Old  Mrs.  Wesley  was  still  living  and  residing  near 
the  Foundery.  When  her  son  called  to  see  her,  she 
noticed  a  cloud  of  displeasure  on  his  brow,  and 
inquired  the  reason.  "  Thomas  Maxfield,"  he  replied 
abruptly,  "  has  turned  preacher,  I  find."  Mrs.  Wesley 
regarded  him  attentively,  and  said,  "  John,  you  know 
what  my  sentiments  have  been.  You  cannot  suspect 
me  of  favouring  readily  anything  of  this  kind.  But 
take  care  what  you  do  with  respect  to  that  young 
man,  for  he  is  as  surely  called  of  God  to  preach  as 
you  are.  Examine  what  have  been  the  fruits  of  his 
preaching,  and  hear  him  also  yourself."  Wesley  fol- 
lowed this  candid  and  dispassionate  advice.  The 
result  was  satisfactory  ;  and  the  precisian,  swallowing 
his  prejudice,  exclaimed,  "  It  is  the  Lord ;  let  Him  do 
what  seemeth  Him  good." 

This  incident  would  suggest  that  to  Wesley  lay- 
preaching  was  a  new  and  unpleasant  phenomenon, 
but  it  is  a  fact  that,  as  early  as  1738,  Joseph  Hum- 
phrys  had  acted  in  this  capacity  with  Wesley's 
sanction.  Probably,  therefore,  Y/esley  may  have 
objected  to  the  union  of  the  preacher  and  the  pastor 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


in  a  layman,  as  tantamount  to  the  assumption  of  the 
full  ministerial  office.  Nearly  all  in  Wesley's  first  set 
of  lay-helpers — Humphrys,  Maxfield,  Cennick,  etc. — 
ended  by  turning  their  backs  upon  him.  Writing 
in  1790,  he  tells  us  what  became  of  Humphrys. 
"  Thursday,  9  [September]  I  read  over  the  experience 
of  Joseph  Humphrys,  the  first  lay -preacher  that 
assisted  me  in  England,  in  the  year  1738.  From  his 
own  mouth  I  learn  that  he  was  perfected  in  love, 
and  so  continued  for  at  least  a  twelvemonth.  After- 
wards he  turned  Calvinist,  and  joined  Mr.  Whitefield, 
and  published  an  invective  against  my  brother  and 
me  in  the  newspaper.  In  a  while  he  renounced  Mr. 
Whitefield,  and  was  ordained  a  Presbyterian.  At  last 
he  received  episcopal  ordination.  He  then  scoffed  at 
inward  religion ;  and  when  reminded  of  his  own 
experience,  replied,  '  That  was  one  of  the  foolish 
things  that  I  wrote  in  the  time  of  my  madness ! ' " 

This  disposition  to  "  rat,"  though  a  spice  of  conscience 
may  have  gone  with  it,  is  not,  it  must  be  confessed,  an 
agreeable  feature  in  the  history  of  early  Methodism. 
Nevertheless,  Wesley's  choice  of  Cennick  and  Max- 
field  as  lay-assistants  was,  as  Southey  has  observed,  by 
no  means  injudicious.  The  same  remark  will  apply  to 
other  instances.  Amongst  the  lay-preachers  of  Method- 
ism— for,  naturally,  the  appointment  of  three  did  not 
complete  the  revolution — were  men  of  original  genius, 
of  whom  Wesley  could  speak  with  admiration.  "  I 
knew  a  man  who  was  so  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  Bible  that  if  he  was  questioned  concerning  any 
Hebrew  word  in  the  Old,  or  Greek  word  in  the  New, 
Testament,  he  would  tell,  after  a  little  pause,  not  only 
how  often  the  one  or  the  other  occurred  in  the  Bible, 


2  I  2 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


but  also  what  it  meant  in  every  place.  His  name  was 
Thomas  Walsh.  Such  a  master  of  biblical  knowledge 
I  never  saw  before,  and  never  expect  to  see  again." 
More  wonderful  still  were  the  intellectual  powers  of 
another  of  the  preachers — John  Downes  ;  and  Wesley 
goes  into  raptures  over  him.  "  I  suppose  he  was  as 
great  a  genius  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ;  such  strength  of 
genius  has  scarce  been  known  in  Europe  before.  I 
will  mention  but  two  or  three  instances  of  it.  When 
he  was  at  school  learning  algebra,  he  came  one  day  to 
his  master,  and  said,  '  Sir,  I  can  prove  this  proposition  a 
better  way  than  it  is  proved  in  the  book.'  His  master 
thought  it  could  not  be ;  but,  upon  trial,  acknow- 
ledged it  to  be  so.  Some  time  after,  his  father  sent 
him  to  Newcastle  with  a  clock  which  was  to  be  mended. 
He  observed  the  clock-maker's  tools,  and  the  manner 
how  he  took  it  to  pieces  and  put  it  together  again  ;  and 
when  he  came  home,  first  made  himself  tools,  and  then 
made  a  clock,  which  went  as  true  as  any  in  the  town. 
Another  proof  of  it  was  this.  Thirty  years  ago,  while 
I  was  shaving,  he  was  whittling  the  top  of  a  stick.  I 
asked,  '  What  are  you  doing  ? '  He  answered,  '  I  am 
taking  your  face,  which  I  intend  to  engrave  on  a  copper- 
plate.' Accordingly,  without  any  instruction,  he  first 
made  himself,  and  then  engraved  the  plate.  The  second 
picture  which  he  engraved  was  that  which  was  prefixed 
to  the  Notes  upon  the  New  Testament.  Such  another 
instance,  I  suppose,  not  all  England,  or  perhaps  Europe, 
can  produce." 

There  appear  to  have  been  dullards,  too.  When 
Wesley  was  approaching  eighty,  he  fathered  a  novel — 
Brooke's  Fool  of  Quality — and  published  it  under  the 
title  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Moreland.    Those  were  dif- 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


213 


ferent  days  from  the  present,  when  novel-writing  is 
a  favourite  pastime  of  young  preachers.  The  early 
Methodist  thought  novel-reading  next  akin  to  dancing, 
and  believed  that  people  might  read,  as  well  as  dance, 
themselves  into  the  infernal  pit.  But  Henry,  Earl  of 
Moreland,  was  an  exception.  It  was  said  by  Brooke's 
nephew  to  be  founded  on  fact ;  and  Wesley  commended 
the  work,  or  rather  his  abridgment,  as  a  "  treatise  "  on 
the  sublime.  John  Easton,  preacher,  could  not  admit 
the  distinction.  He  denounced  his  leader;  and  that 
led  to  the  following  duologue  relating  to  passages  in 
the  book : — 

Wesley  :  "  Did  you  read  Vindex,  John  ?  " 

Eastern  :  "  Yes,  sir." 

W. :  "  Did  you  laugh,  John  ? " 

E. :  "  No,  sir."  1 

W. :  "  Did  you  read  Damon  and  Pythias,  John  ? " 

E. :  "  Yes,  sir." 

W. :  "  Did  you  cry,  John  ?  " 

E. :  "  No,  sir." 

W.  (raising  his  eyes,  and  clasping  his  hands) :  "  O 
earth,  earth,  earth ! " 

On  June  25,  1744,  and  the  five  following  days,  was 
held  at  the  Foundery,  in  London,  the  first  of  a  long 
series  of  Conferences.  It  was  attended  by  John  and 
Charles  Wesley  and  by  four  other  clergymen — John 
Hodges,  Henry  Piers,  Samuel  Taylor,  and  John  Meriton. 
There  were  present  also  four  lay -preachers.  Three  of 
them  —  Thomas  Maxfield,  John  Bennet,  and  John 
Downes — have  already  been  introduced  to  the  reader. 
The  fourth  was  Thomas  Richards.  The  proceedings 
included  a  solemn  affirmation  of  loyalty  to  the  Church 
of  England,  and  of  submission  to  her  rulers.    The  Con- 


2  14        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


ference,  among  other  matters,  took  into  consideration 
the  status,  duties,  and  limitations  of  the  lay-assistants. 
One  resolution  was  not  flattering  to  the  order,  since  it 
declared  that  they  were  allowable  only  in  cases  of 
necessity.  As  the  laymen  consented  to  be  known  as 
necessary  evils,  they  must  be  judged  to  have  possessed, 
at  least,  the  grace  of  humility.  But  Wesley  evident^ 
regarded  his  laymen  as  in  statu  pupillari.  He  feared 
that  they  might  make  him  ridiculous  by  their  indis- 
cretions. Accordingly,  he  broached  for  their  guidance 
a  code  of  rules  of  exemplary  strictness.  They  were  to 
be  serious,  and  converse  sparingly  and  cautiously  with 
women.  They  were  to  take  no  steps  towards  marriage 
without  first  acquainting  Wesley  or  his  brother  clergy- 
men. They  were  to  do  nothing  as  gentlemen.  They 
had  no  more  to  do  with  this  character  than  with  that 
of  a  dancing-master.  They  were  not  to  be  ashamed  of 
fetching  wood  and  drawing  water ;  nor  of  cleaning 
their  own  shoes  or  those  of  their  neighbour.  They 
were  to  take  no  money  of  anyone,  and  were  to  contract 
no  debts  without  Wesley's  knowledge.  They  were  not 
to  mend  the  rules,  but  to  observe  them.  They  were  to 
employ  their  time  as  Wesley  directed ;  and  for  his  satis- 
faction, as  well  as  for  their  own  profit,  they  were  to 
keep  journals. 

Wesley's  pupils  at  Lincoln,  as  well  as  the  members 
of  the  Holy  Club,  had  already  tasted  his  love  of  dis- 
cipline. The  stringency  of  these  regulations,  therefore, 
no  doubt  reflected  the  character  of  the  man.  A  further 
explanation  lay  in  the  novelty  of  the  institution.  The 
Methodist  preacher,  itinerant  or  local,  is  still,  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  practically  unique.  In  the  mid-eighteenth 
century  he  was  a  stupendous  experiment.    The  Church 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


215 


of  England  recruited  its  ranks  from  the  universities 
and  other  foundations  of  sound  and  religious  learning. 
Presbyterian  ministers,  though  not  of  the  same  social 
standing,  -were  not  inferior  in  education.  Even  Dissent 
had  its  academies.  But  Wesley's  preachers,  like  Wiclif 's 
"  poor  priests,"  were  for  the  most  part  ignorant  men  of 
humble  position.  As  Rowland  Hill  saw  fit  to  ridicule 
Wesley's  "  ragged  legion  of  preaching  barbers,  cobblers, 
tinkers,  scavengers,  draymen,  and  chimney-sweepers," 1 
it  was  asking  too  much  of  unregenerate  human  nature 
to  claim  that  it  should  refrain  from  "chaffing"  the 
new  race  of  preachers.  And  of  succulent  satire  there 
was  no  stint. 

"The  bricklayer  lays  bis  trowel  by, 
And  now  builds  mansions  in  the  sky  ; 
The  cobbler,  touched  with  holy  pride, 
Flings  his  old  shoes  and  lasts  aside, 
And  now  devoutly  sets  about 
Cobbling  of  souls  that  ne'er  wear  out. 
The  baker,  now  a  preacher  grown, 
Finds  man  lives  not  by  bread  alone, 
And  now  his  customer  he  feeds 
With  prayers,  with  sermons,  groans,  and  creeds. 


1  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  see  in  disciplined  Methodism  a  religious 
parallel  to  the  anarchy  of  the  Puritan  epoch,  but  the  professional  pride 
of  Rowland  Hill  may  certainly  be  justified  by  the  example  of  Dr.  South. 
In  one  of  his  sermons  he  says:  "For  truth  scorns  to  be  seen  by  eyes 
too  much  fixed  upon  inferior  objects.  It  lies  too  deep  to  be  pitched  up 
with  the  plough,  and  too  close  to  be  beaten  out  with  the  hammer.  It 
dwells  not  in  shops  or  workhouses  ;  nor,  till  the  last  age,  was  it  ever 
known  that  any  served  seven  years  to  a  smith  or  tailor,  that  he  might, 
at  the  end  thereof,  proceed  Master  of  Arts,  but  such  as  those  trades 
taught  him  ;  and  much  less,  that  he  should  commence  Doctor  or  Divine 
from  the  shopboard  or  the  anvil,  or,  from  whistling  to  a  team,  come  to 
preaching  to  a  congregation.  These  were  the  peculiar,  extraordinary 
privileges  of  the  late  blessed  times  of  light  and  inspiration." 


216 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Weavers,  inspired,  their  shuttles  leave, 
Sermons  and  flimsy  hymns  to  weave. 
Barbers  unreaped  will  leave  the  chin, 
To  trim  and  shave  the  man  within. 
The  gardener,  weary  of  his  trade, 
Tired  of  the  mattock  and  the  spade, 
Changed  to  Apollo  in  a  trice, 
Waters  the  plants  of  paradise. 
The  fishermen  no  longer  set 
For  fish  the  meshes  of  their  net ; 
But  catch,  like  Peter,  men  of  sin, 
For  catching  is  to  take  them  in." 

Having  once  adopted  the  principle  of  lay-preaching, 
and  stipulated  that  his  preachers  should  not  aspire  to 
the  character  of  gentlemen,1  Wesley  concerned  himself 
far  less  about  their  secular  callings  than  about  their 
moral  and  spiritual  fitness.  That  some  of  his  preachers 
were  persons  of  more  than  respectable  ability  has 
been  already  shown.  Their  sincerity  might  almost  be 
assumed.  They  had  few  or  no  worldly  incentives,  and 
the  persecution  was  terrible.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
the  double  test  was,  it  can  hardly  be  questioned,  effi- 
cacious. There  was,  however,  one  remarkable  excep- 
tion.   At  Norwich  James  Wheatley  waged  an  unequal 

1  Although  Wesley  disclaimed  for  his  lay-helpers,  and  wished  them 
to  disclaim  for  themselves,  the  character  of  a  gentleman — i.e.  a  man  of 
position — it  seems,  on  the  impartial  testimony  of  the  Spectator,  that  his 
influence  has  tended  to  imbue  his  preachers  with  the  more  pleasing  traits 
of  the  class  in  question.  That  journal,  on  July  15,  1899,  contained  the 
following  remarks:  "Wesley  was  always  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman  ; 
and  the  results  of  those  characteristics  may  be  traced  to  this  day — even 
in  his  humblest  followers.  One  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  a  true 
gentleman  that  the  present  writer  has  ever  known  was  a  miner,  who 
was  a  Methodist  local  preacher.  In  him,  as  in  so  many  of  his  colleagues 
scattered  up  and  down  England,  a  certain  gentle  grace  and  spiritual 
refinement  seemed  part  of  his  '  profession.'  " 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  217 


fight  with  the  Hell-fire  Club.  He  was  stripped,  and 
dragged  to  one  of  the  bridges  to  be  drowned,  and  per- 
haps would  have  been  drowned  but  for  the  appearance 
of  the  mayor.  At  another  time  the  blasphemous 
Jacobites  formed  a  plan  for  suffocating  him  in  a  mud 
pit  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep.  Nevertheless,  it  was  proved 
to  Wesley's  satisfaction,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
ecclesiastical  court  at  Norwich,  that  James  Wheatley, 
arrant  hj'pocrite,  was  unconscionably  immoral.  The 
judge  decreed  that  "the  said  Wheatley  be  enjoined  a 
public  penance,  to  be  performed  in  a  linen  cloth,  with  a 
paper  pinned  to  his  breast,  denoting  his  crime " ;  and 
Wesley,  who  had  before  suspected  him,  expelled  him 
from  his  fellowship. 

It  was  said  of  Wesley's  preachers,  after  Methodism 
had  been  fifty  years  in  existence,  that  they  lived  like 
stalled  oxen.  This  was  probably,  even  then,  a  wilful 
exaggeration,  as  the  nature  of  their  employment  pre- 
cluded habits  of  luxury.  Anyhow,  such  an  assertion 
could  not  have  been  made  of  the  early  preachers, 
whose  lives  were  simple,  hardy,  and  full  of  toil  and 
adventure.  The  Methodist  pioneers  were  of  three 
sorts,  rudely  corresponding  to  Volunteers,  Militia,  and 
Regular  Army.  Some  continued  to  follow  their  trade 
or  profession,  preaching  in  their  town  or  village  and 
occasionally  farther  afield.  Others  went  about  preach- 
ing for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  and  then  resumed 
their  places  in  ordinary  civil  occupations.  A  third 
class  embraced  preaching  as  a  vocation.  These  under- 
went a  period  of  probation  ;  submitted  to  an  examina- 
tion of  character  and  ability ;  and,  finally,  at  the 
annual  conference  were  admitted,  with  solemn  prayer, 
into  "  full  connexion."     The   triple  division,  never 


218 


WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


exactly  authorised,  was  not  to  last.  In  the  eventual 
organisation  Wesley's  assistants  were  known  either  as 
"  travelling  "  or  "  local "  preachers. 

The  "  travelling "  preachers  were  about  equal  to 
Dissenting  ministers — their  financial  prospects,  gloomy 
and  uncertain.  They  received  no  stipend,  and,  going 
forth  without  purse  or  scrip,  in  the  ardour  of  faith, 
took  no  thought  what  they  should  eat,  or  what  they 
should  drink,  or  wherewithal  they  should  be  clothed. 
Journeying  in  this  spirit,  the  preachers  fared  not 
utterly  amiss.  The  societies,  if  they  were  not  very 
rich,  were  liberal,  and  knew  how  to  appreciate 
the  self-denial  of  prophets  and  evangelists.  It  was 
otherwise  with  their  wives  and  children  who,  in  the 
absence  of  the  breadwinner,  ran  a  risk  of  destitution ; 
and,  to  shield  their  families  from  want,  not  a  few 
Methodist  preachers  ceased  itinerating  to  become 
pastors  of  Independent  churches.  This  failure  of  the 
commissariat  offers  a  striking  contrast  to  the  arrange- 
ments afterwards  introduced.  In  no  other  community 
or  profession  is  marriage  so  easy  or  so  safe  as  among 
Methodist  ministers  ;  and  the  cares  inseparable  from  a 
growing  family  are  sensibly  lightened  by  an  automatic 
increase  of  salary. 

In  proportion  to  density  of  membership,  the  sphere 
of  labour  tended  to  contract.  There  is  in  this  respect 
a  curious  analogy  between  the  early  days  of  Method- 
ism and  the  early  days  of  the  Government  inspection 
of  schools.  The  late  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  accepted  the 
office  of  inspector,  in  order  to  marry ;  but  his  wedded 
life  was  at  first  by  no  means  of  the  normal  description. 
The  area  assigned  to  him  was  so  large  that  the  devoted 
pair  shifted  from  place  to  place  in  uncomfortable  gipsy 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


219 


fashion.  Some  notion  of  the  hardships  and  difficulties 
that  beset  the  early  "travelling"  preacher  may  be 
gleaned  from  a  despatch  written  by  one  of  the  van- 
guard to  the  commander-in-chief.  "Many  doors  are 
opened  for  preaching  in  these  parts,  but  cannot  be 
supplied  for  want  of  preachers.  I  think  someone 
should  be  sent  to  assist  me,  otherwise  we  shall  lose 
ground.  My  circuit  requires  me  to  travel  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  in  two  weeks,  during  which  time  I 
preach  publicly  thirty-four  times,  besides  meeting  the 
societies,  visiting  the  sick,  and  transacting  other 
affairs." 

From  this  statement  it  will  be  remarked  that  a 
number  of  societies  were  under  the  control  of  a  single 
"  travelling  "  preacher.  He  was  the  "  superintendent  " 
of  the  "  circuit,"  so  long  as  Wesley  chose  that  he  should 
move  within  the  specified  limits.  A  period  of  three 
years  was  afterwards  settled  on  as  the  term  beyond 
which  no  itinerant  could  retain  the  same  appointment ; 
but  the  Bible  Christians,  a  minor  Methodist  body,  are 
less  rigorous  than  the  parent  community,  which,  how- 
ever, has  latterly  manifested  a  disposition  to  relax  the 
severity  of  the  triennial  change  of  circuits. 

It  is  greatly  to  Wesley's  credit  that  he  always 
courageously  faced  the  often  heavy  responsibilities 
involved  in  his  new  arrangements.  When  he  sent  his 
preachers  hither  and  thither  opening  fresh  centres  of 
evangelistic  enterprise,  he  did  not  forget  that  they  had 
wives,  on  whom  now  devolved,  if  not  the  maintenance, 
at  any  rate  the  training  and  education  of  their  children. 
This  was  not  quite  equitable,  if  it  could  be  prevented  ; 
and  Wesley  resolved  that  it  should  be  prevented — 
that  Methodism  should  not  be  built  up  at  the  cost  of 


220        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


virtual  widows  and  neglected  offspring.  In  1740  he 
had  opened  a  school  at  Kingswood  for  the  children  of 
colliers.  Eight  years  later  he  founded  in  the  same 
place  a  new  school  for  the  children  of  his  travelling 
preachers  and  other  Methodists,  who  shared  his  objec- 
tions to  existing  boarding-schools. 

The  institution  was  a  strange  medley  of  wisdom  and 
folly.  One  feature  with  which  Wesley  found  fault 
in  the  boarding-schools  of  the  period  was  their  situa- 
tion in  the  midst  of  towns.  This  was  a  sound  criticism, 
nor,  in  some  respects,  was  Kingswood  a  bad  choice  for 
a  public  school.  It  was  "  private,  remote  from  all  high 
roads,  on  a  small  hill  sloping  to  the  west,  sheltered 
from  the  east  and  north,  and  affording  room  for  large 
gardens."  But  the  situation  had  one  defect,  which 
ought  to  have  been  fatal.  There  was  no  sufficient 
supply  of  pure  water.  Wesley,  however,  was  deter- 
mined to  plant  his  school  there,  and  turned  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  remonstrances  of  more  practical  friends.  Vincent 
Perronet  wrote  to  Walter  Sellon :  "  My  dear  brother 
John  Wesley  wonders  at  the  bad  taste  of  those  who 
seem  not  to  be  in  raptures  with  Kingswood  school. 
If  there  were  no  other  objections  but  the  want  of  good 
water  upon  the  spot,  this  would  be  insuperable  to  all 
wise  men,  except  himself  and  his  brother  Charles." 

Wesley,  it  seems,  had  read  Milton's  treatise  on 
Education,  and,  partly  in  consequence,  had  become  an 
educational  theorist  of  a  whimsical  and  fantastic  kind. 
Unhappily,  he  had  the  means  of  applying  his  theories, 
and  a  "  corpus  vile "  on  which  to  make  an  "  experi- 
mentum  cruris  "  in  the  persons  of  the  preachers'  boys. 
It  is  fair  to  remember,  however,  that  Wesley  warned 
tender  parents — who,  he  rather  needlessly  adds,  offered 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  221 


their  sons  and  daughters  to  devils — against  sending 
their  children  to  a  school  which,  in  the  rigour  of  its 
discipline,  was  to  be  more  than  monastic.  The  pupils 
were  to  rise  at  four,  and  spend  one  hour  in  private 
reading,  singing,  meditation,  and  prayer.  From  the 
age  of  six  to  twelve  they  were  to  be  exercised  in  read- 
ing, writing,  arithmetic,  English,  French,  Latin,  Greek, 
Hebrew,  history,  geography,  chronology,  rhetoric, 
logic,  geometry,  algebra,  physics,  and  music.  There 
were  to  be  no  hours  for  recreation,  and  no  holidays ; 
and  a  master  was  to  be  always  in  attendance.  Wesley's 
explanation  of  this  harshness  was  that  those  who  played 
when  they  were  boys  would  play  when  they  were  men. 

The  bare  announcement  of  such  a  programme  would, 
in  these  days,  be  enough  to  ensure  the  failure  of  the 
undertaking.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the 
rights  of  boys  were  less  understood  and  respected,  it 
appears  to  have  had  the  opposite  effect.  We  hear  of 
scholars  from  Denmark,  scholars  from  Scandinavia, 
scholars  from  the  West  Indies,  and  even  of  parlour 
boarders.  Still,  after  thirty -five  years,  the  school 
could  not  be  declared  a  success.  It  had  realised  none 
of  Wesley's,  certainly  extravagant,  expectations. 

"  My  design,"  he  says,  "  in  building  the  house  at 
Kingswood  was  to  have  therein  a  Christian  family, 
every  member  whereof  (children  excepted)  should  be 
alive  to  God,  and  a  pattern  of  all  holiness.  Here  it 
was  that  I  proposed  to  educate  a  few  children,  accord- 
ing to  the  accuracy  of  the  Christian  model.  And 
almost  as  soon  as  we  began,  God  gave  us  a  token  for 
good,  four  of  the  children  receiving  a  clear  sense  of 
pardon.  But,  at  present,  the  school  does  not,  in  any 
wise,  answer  the  design  of  its  institution,  either  with 


222        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


regard  to  religion  or  learning.  The  children  are  not 
religious;  they  have  not  the  power  and  hardly  the 
form  of  religion.  Neither  do  they  improve  in  learning 
better  than  at  other  schools;  no,  nor  yet  so  well. 
Insomuch,  that  some  of  our  friends  have  been  obliged 
to  remove  their  children  to  other  schools.  And  no 
wonder  that  they  improve  so  little  either  in  religion 
or  learning;  for  the  rules  of  the  school  are  not  ob- 
served at  all.  All  in  the  house  ought  to  rise,  take 
their  three  meals,  and  go  to  bed  at  a  fixed  hour.  But 
they  do  not.  The  children  ought  never  to  be  alone, 
but  always  in  the  presence  of  a  master.  This  is  totally 
neglected,  in  consequence  of  which  they  run  up  and 
down  the  wood,  and  mix — yea,  fight — with  the  colliers' 
children.  They  ought  never  to  play,  but  they  do 
every  day — yea,  in  the  school.  Three  maids  are  suffi- 
cient. Now  there  are  four,  and  but  one,  at  most,  truly 
pious. 

"  How  may  these  evils  be  remedied,  and  the  school 
reduced  to  its  original  plan  ?  It  must  be  mended  or 
ended,  for  no  school  is  better  than  the  present  school. 
Can  any  be  a  master  that  does  not  rise  at  five,  observe 
all  the  rules,  and  see  that  others  observe  them  ?  There 
should  be  three  masters  and  an  usher,  chiefly  to  be  with 
the  children  out  of  school.  The  headmaster  should 
have  nothing  to  do  with  temporal  things." 

Adam  Clarke,  the  celebrated  commentator,  who  was 
educated  at  Kingswood,  tells  a  still  more  tragic  tale  of 
chaos  and  corruption.  "  The  school  was  the  worst  I 
had  ever  seen,  though  the  teachers  were  men  of  ade- 
quate learning.  It  was  perfectly  disorganised ;  and  in 
several  respects,  each  did  what  was  right  in  his  own 
eyes.     There  was  no  efficient  plan  pursued.  They 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  223 


mocked  at  religion,  and  trampled  under  foot  all  the 
laws.  The  little  children  of  the  preachers  suffered 
great  indignities ;  and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  their  treat- 
ment there  gave  many  of  them  a  rooted  enmity  against 
religion  for  life.  The  parlour  boarders  had  every  kind 
of  respect  paid  to  them,  and  the  others  were  shame- 
fully neglected.  Scarcely  any  care  was  taken  either 
of  their  bodies  or  their  souls.  ...  At  the  table 
every  person  when  he  drank  was  obliged  to  run 
the  following  gauntlet :  He  must  drink  the  health  of 
Mr.  Simpson,  Mrs.  Simpson,  Miss  Simpson,  Mr.  Bailey, 
Mr.  De  Boudry,  all  the  foreign  gentlemen,  then  all  the 
parlour  boarders,  down  one  side  of  the  long  table  and 
up  the  other,  one  by  one,  and  all  the  visitors  who 
might  happen  to  be  there ;  after  which  it  was  lawful 
for  him  to  drink  his  glass  of  beer." 

Evidently,  it  was  a  bad  fault  to  be  a  preacher's  son. 
By  a  vigorous  effort  Wesley  succeeded  in  somewhat 
reforming  the  school,  but  it  was  established  on  false 
principles,  and  whilst  they  remained  in  vogue,  it  was 
idle  to  anticipate  any  lasting  or  genuine  improvement. 

In  classifying  the  various  springs  of  Methodist 
brotherhood — or,  viewing  the  matter  from  another 
standpoint,  of  the  new  Dissent — it  is  natural  to  place 
in  the  first  category  the  influence  of  a  distinctive 
psalmody.  Germany  stands  pre  -  eminent  as  the 
home  of  the  sacred  lyric.  When  Luther  trolled  forth 
"  Ein  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott "  the  rugged  but  heroic 
strain  awoke  mighty  echoes  against  which  Rome's 
plain-song  had  never  a  chance.  It  will  not  have  been 
forgotten  how  the  Moravians  sang,  and  Wesley  listened, 
during  the  storm-scene  on  the  Atlantic.  Probably, 
his  later  intercourse  with  that  community  forced  this 


224        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


element  of  their  worship  more  and  more  prominently 
before  his  notice.  Again,  when  the  Kingswood  colliers 
had  been  converted,  they  excited  some  scandal  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  some  perplexity  in  Wesley's  not 
illiberal  mind,  by  their  vigorous  psalm-singing  pro- 
tracted far  into  the  night.  In  the  third  place,  the 
Wesleys,  as  a  family,  had  a  strong  bent  for  poetry 
and  undoubted  talent  for  versification,  while  John 
and  Charles  Wesley  were  the  devout  leaders  of  a  great 
popular  movement.  The  inevitable  outcome  of  these 
circumstances  was  a  Methodist  hymn-book,  edited  by 
the  brothers,  with  a  large  infusion  of  original  composi- 
tions. 

Harbinger  of  a  more  important  and  more  definitive 
compilation,  there  appeared,  in  1739,  a  work  entitled 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems.  To  this  volume  John 
Wesley  contributed  at  any  rate  twenty  translations 
of  German  hymns,  and  Charles  a  number  of  his 
own  pieces.  It  is  believed  that,  in  works  published 
under  their  joint  names,  all  translations  from  the 
German  emanated  from  John  Wesley.  His  niece, 
Miss  Wesley,  gave  it  as  her  opinion — it  is  hard  to  fix 
the  value  of  her  opinion — that  to  him  and  not  to  her 
father,  who  was  by  no  means  so  conversant  with  the 
language,  was  this  credit  due. 

Still,  the  poet  of  the  movement,  the  "  sweet  singer  " 
of  Methodism,  was,  there  is  no  gainsaying,  Charles 
Wesley.  John  might  be — he  was — a  competent  trans- 
lator, a  correct  and  elegant  verse-writer.  But  Charles 
was  more ;  he  had  flaming  in  him  something  of  the 
true  poetic  fire.  Himself  familiar  with  the  varied 
phases  of  Methodist  experience,  he  could  describe 
with  equal  truth  and  equal  sympathy  the  feelings  of 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  225 


a  weeping  sinner  and  a  rejoicing  saint ;  and  all  the 
intermediate  emotions  were  to  him  as  A  B  C. 
Methodism  John  Wesley  defined  as  religion  of  the 
heart.  Charles  gave  to  the  Methodist  people  a  trans- 
fused and  transfigured  theology,  theology  rememberable 
as  verse.  Not  didactic  verse,  though  didaxis  was  in  it, 
but  verse  that  was  passionate — perhaps  too  passionate. 

There  has  been  much  unintelligent  talk  as  to  the 
nature  and  attributes  of  hymns.  Dr.  Johnson  laid 
down  that  hymns — i.e.  metrical  compositions  intended 
to  be  sung  by  Christian  congregations — could  not 
be  poetry,  because  it  was  necessary  to  exclude  the 
element  of  "  invention."  No  doubt  a  hymn-writer 
labours  under  severe  restrictions.  The  subject-matter 
is  given ;  it  cannot  be  handled  capriciously.  It  is 
either  Revelation  or  connected  with  Revelation. 
Furthermore,  the  hymn-writer  represents  a  church, 
a  school  of  thought,  a  system  of  belief.  He  must 
show  himself  orthodox.  But  his  orthodoxy  must  not 
be  too  strait,  too  pronounced,  for  then  he  will 
offend  men  of  other  churches,  other  schools  of  thought, 
other  systems  of  belief.  The  doctrines  taught  or 
assumed  will  be  spurned.  The  terminology  will  seem 
strange  and  uncouth.  On  this  account  many  of 
Wesley's  hymns  will  never  be  popular,  will  never  be 
felt  as  poetry,  will  barely  be  understood,  beyond  the 
pale  of  Methodism,  or,  at  the  widest,  of  Evangelical 
Christendom. 

Dr.  Johnson,  however,  referred  to  other  considera- 
tions besides  the  invariable  subject-matter.  He  was 
thinking  of  the  artistic,  the  decorative,  the  spectacular 
side  of  poetry.  Hymns,  to  be  good,  must  do  with- 
out those  effects  that  make  the  most  of  novelty,  that 
IS 


226        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


pin  attention  to  the  manner,  that  impress  you  with 
the  skill  of  the  writer  rather  than  the  importance 
of  his  theme.  Hymns  may  not  be  self-conscious. 
Figures  of  speech  are  to  be  introduced  sparingly, 
and,  as  it  were,  reluctantly.  If  drawn  from  nature, 
they  must  be  exceedingly  simple  ;  but  commonly  they 
will  be  more  effective,  if  borrowed  from  the  Sacred 
Writings.  In  the  great  hymns — the  hymns  that  have 
swayed  multitudes  and  will  live  for  ever — the  meta- 
phor is  the  central — what  is  formally  often  the  initial 
— idea.  Set  comparisons  and  illustrations  are  for  the 
understanding.  A  good  hymn  kindles  the  emotions, 
touches  and  softens  the  heart. 

It  is  said  that  in  1740  Charles  Wesley  was  seated  in 
his  study  when  a  small  bird  entered,  pursued  by  a 
hawk.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  hymn,  "  Jesu, 
Lover  of  my  soul,"  which,  with  Toplady's  "  Rock  of 
Ages,"  stands  supreme,  at  the  very  apex  of  English 
hymnody.  If  a  Greek  poet  had  been  thus  inspired,  he 
would  have  begun,  "  Just  as  a  dove,  pursued  by  a  cruel 
hawk,  flees  to  the  bosom  of  a  friendly  man " ;  but 
Wesley,  once  thrilled,  thinks  no  more  of  the  little 
bird  and  its  fierce  enemy.  Inspiration  sweeps  him 
along  from  type  to  antitype.  The  feelings,  still  fresh, 
are  committed  to  paper;  and  many  profoundly 
ignorant  of  the  occasion  have  entered  with  full 
sympathy  into  the  mood  it  created. 

Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  think  highly  of  Charles 
Wesley's  reverie.  For  him  it  was  a  medley;  it  was 
not  poetically  one.1  But  it  is  safe  to  affirm  that 
nobody  ever  wrote  a  good  hymn,  resolving  to  obey  the 

1  The  same  objection  might  be  urged  to  that  touching  funeral  hymn, 
"Now  the  labourer's  task  is  o'er.': 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  227 


rules  of  poetical  art.  A  really  successful  hymn  is 
more  the  result  of  chance  than  almost  any  other  form 
of  literary  production.  Some  of  Wesley's  lay-preachers 
had,  not  quite  the  knack,  but  the  coy  and  occasional 
luck  of  turning  out  such  a  specimen.  One  of  the 
earliest  was  a  Thomas  Bakewell,  who  not  only  wrote 
a  h}-mn,  but  lived  to  the  venerable  age  of  ninety- 
eight.  His  hymn  is  well  known,  being  indeed  that 
melodious  "  song  of  praise,"  of  which  the  first  stanza 
is  as  follows : 

"  Hail,  Thou  once  despised  Jesus ! 

Hail,  Thou  Galilean  King ! 
Thou  didst  suffer  to  release  us ; 

Thou  didst  full  salvation  bring. 
Hail,  Thou  agonising  Saviour, 

Bearer  of  our  sin  and  shame ! 
By  Thy  merits  we  find  favour  ; 

Life  is  given  through  Thy  name." 

Bakewell  had  a  friend,  Thomas  Olivers,  who  likewise 
achieved  the  writing  of  a  master-hymn.  It  seems 
that,  during  a  visit  to  Bakewell's  house  at  West- 
minster, Olivers  found  his  way  into  the  synagogue  of 
the  Jews.  There  he  heard  Signor  Leoni  declaim  a 
celebrated  air.  Olivers  coveted  that  air  for  his  own 
people.  On  his  return  he  sat  down,  and  choosing  the 
requisite  metre,  proceeded  to  indite  a  "  song  of  praise  " 
loftier,  more  austere  than  Bakewell's,  which,  for 
strength  and  sublimity,  for  striking  phrase  and  pro- 
found conviction,  reminds  you  of  Isaiah  and  the 
prophets.    It  begins: 

"  The  God  of  Abraham  praise, 
Who  reigns  enthroned  above, 
Ancient  of  Everlasting  Days, 
And  God  of  Love : 


228        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Jehovah,  Great  I  Am, 
By  earth  and  heaven  confest ; 
I  how,  and  bless  the  sacred  Name, 
For  ever  blest." 

James  Montgomery,  no  mean  judge,  has  said  of  this 
hymn,  "  There  is  not  in  our  language  a  lyric  of  more 
majestic  style,  more  elevated  or  more  glorious  imagery. 
Its  structure  indeed  is  unattractive  on  account  of  the 
short  lines,  but,  like  a  stately  pile  of  architecture, 
severe  and  simple  in  design,  it  strikes  less  on  the  first 
view  than  after  deliberate  examination." 

Montgomery's  allusion  to  metre  suggests  what  is  a 
serious  fault  in  many  of  Charles  Wesley's  composi- 
tions—  namely,  an  unsuitable,  and  it  is  hardly  an 
exaggeration  to  say  absurd,  rhythm.  The  lilt  of  those 
frolicsome  anapaests  is  impossible  out  of  comedy.  How 
they  came  to  be  employed  is  a  little  mysterious.  Not 
improbably,  however,  the  hymns  were  written  as 
libretto,  to  fit  particular  tunes.  If  another  criticism 
may  be  permitted,  it  is  that  many  of  Charles  Wesley's 
hymns  are  better  adapted  for  private  devotional  study 
than  for  public  worship.  They  are  concerned  with 
the  fears  and  the  failings,  the  hopes  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  individual.  No  doubt  congregations  are 
made  up  of  individuals,  but  the  individuals  that  make 
up  congregations  are  not  Wesleys,  and  it  is  undesirable 
that  they  should  be  asked  to  express,  as  /  or  me,  what 
they  probably  do  not  feel  and  may  not  sympathise 
with.  Introspection,  however,  was  the  essence  of 
Methodism. 

Charles  Wesley's  hymns  are  not  all  of  equal  merit 
— a  thing  scarcely  to  be  expected,  seeing  that  at  one 
period  there  were  in  circulation  more  than  six  thousand 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  229 


of  them.  Mr.  Swinburne  has  said  that  much  that 
Wordsworth  wrote  was  rubbish;  and  Dean  Stanley 
inclined  to  a  similar  view  of  Wesley's  verse.  John 
Wesley,  however,  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  excel- 
lence of  his  brother's  best  work.  In  the  preface  of 
the  general  definitive  hymn-book,  published  in  1780, 
he  writes  with  even  more  than  his  customary  vigour 
and  confidence :  "  Many  gentlemen  have  done  my 
brother  and  me  (though  without  naming  us)  the 
honour  to  reprint  many  of  our  hymns.  Now  they 
are  perfectly  welcome  so  to  do,  provided  they  print 
them  just  as  they  are.  But  I  desire  they  would  not 
attempt  to  mend  them ;  for  they  really  are  not  able. 
None  of  them  is  able  to  mend  either  the  sense  or  the 
verse.  Therefore,  I  must  beg  of  them  one  of  these 
two  favours :  either  to  let  them  stand  just  as  they  are, 
to  take  them  for  better  for  worse ;  or  to  add  the 
true  reading  in  the  margin,  or  at  the  bottom  of  the 
page  ;  that  we  may  be  no  longer  accountable  either  for 
the  nonsense  or  for  the  doggerel  of  other  men." 

Even  more  emphatic,  and  less  equivocally  generous, 
is  a  passage  in  the  very  last  number  of  John  Wesley's 
Journal.    It  is  to  the  following  effect : — 

"  I  retired  to  Peckham ;  and  at  leisure  hours  read 
part  of  a  very  pretty  trifle — the  Life  of  Mrs. 
Bellamy.  Surely  never  did  any,  since  John  Dry  den, 
study  more 

'To  make  vice  pleasing  and  damnation  ehine,' 

than  this  lively  and  elegant  writer.  She  has  a  fine 
imagination ;  a  strong  understanding ;  an  easy  style, 
impi'oved  by  much  reading  ;  a  fine,  benevolent  temper ; 
and  every  qualification  that  could  consist  with  a  total 


230        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


ignorance  of  God.  But  God  was  not  in  all  her  thoughts. 
Abundance  of  anecdotes  she  inserts,  which  may  be 
true  or  false.  One  of  them,  concerning  Mr.  Garrick,  is 
curious.  She  says :  '  When  he  was  taking  ship  for 
England,  a  lady  presented  him  with  a  parcel,  which 
she  desired  him  not  to  open  till  he  was  at  sea.  When 
he  did,  he  found  Wesley's  hymns,  which  he  immediately 
threw  overboard.'  I  cannot  believe  it.  I  think  Mr.  G. 
had  more  sense.  He  knew  my  brother  well,  and 
knew  him  to  be  not  only  far  superior  in  learning,  but 
in  poetry,  to  Mr.  Thomson  and  all  his  theatrical  writers 
put  together.  None  of  them  can  equal  him,  either 
in  strong,  nervous  sense  or  purity  and  elegance  of 
language.  The  musical  compositions  of  his  sons  are  not 
more  excellent  than  the  poetical  ones  of  their  father." 

Is  it  conceivable  that  the  Wesleys,  if  they  had  not 
been  Methodist  preachers,  would  have  forestalled  the 
Lake  school  ?  A  contributor  to  the  Spectator  (July  15, 
1899),  in  the  course  of  a  brilliant  article  describing 
Wesley's  services  to  England,  observes :  "  We  doubt 
if  what  the  Germans  call  the  Weltanschauung  of  a 
nation  was  ever  so  rapidly  transformed  as  was  that 
of  England  in  the  last  century.  Think  of  the  change 
from  the  aridity  of  the  Deistic  controversy  and  the 
hollow  brilliancy  of  Bolingbroke  and  Chesterfield 
to  the  green  pastures  and  still  waters  of  the  '  Lyrical 
Ballads,'  and  ask  yourself  what  could  have  wrought 
such  a  marvellous  resurrection  from  the  dead.  We 
cannot  perhaps  explain  this,  for  the  spirit,  in  the  last 
analysis,  moveth  where  it  listeth,  but  we  do  see 
that  the  new  literature  and  thought  sprang  from  a 
new  soil,  watered  by  a  new  faith  which  once  more 
saw  the  world  to  be  divine,  and  men  to  be  vitally 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


231 


related  in  social  bonds  forged  by  God  Himself.  We  do 
not  suppose  that  the  zealous  converts  of  Methodism 
and  the  earnest  preachers  of  the  Evangelical  revival 
could  appreciate  the  fairy  loveliness  of  the  poetry 
of  Coleridge  or  the  bare  grandeur  of  Wordsworth's 
noble  sonnets.  But  we  do  say  that  each  shared  the 
new  life,  that  each  had  passed  from  the  desert  of 
mechanism  and  formality  into  the  promised  land  of 
freedom  and  truth." 

It  appears  probable  that,  if  John  and  Charles  Wesley 
had  thrown  themselves  into  pure  literature — as  they 
might,  perhaps,  have  done  but  for  the  attractions 
of  theology — they  would  have  instituted  a  reform,  but 
that  reform  would  hardly  have  shaped  itself  as 
pantheism  or  Nature- worship.  Most  likely  its  note 
would  have  been  enthusiasm  for  humanity.  John 
Wesley,  at  least,  seems  to  have  thought  scorn  of  the 
pleasures  of  the  country.  Under  the  date  of  Novem- 
ber 5,  1766,  he  pens  the  following  reflections  :  "  In  the 
little  journeys  I  have  taken  lately,  I  have  thought 
much  on  the  huge  encomiums  which  have  been  for 
many  ages  bestowed  on  a  country  life.  How  have  all 
the  learned  world  cried  out — 

1  0  fortunati  nimium,  sua  si  bona  norint,  agricolae  ! ' 1 

But,  after  all,  what  a  flat  contradiction  is  this  to 
universal  experience  !  See  that  little  house,  under  the 
wood,  by  the  riverside  !  There  is  rural  life  in  perfec- 
tion. How  happy  then  is  the  farmer  that  lives  there ! 
Let  us  take  a  detail  of  his  happiness.  He  rises  with 
(or  before)  the  sun,  calls  his  servants,  looks  to  his 
swine  and  cows,  then  to  his  stables  and  barns.  He 
1  "Too  happy  husbandmen,  if  they  knew  their  blessings!" 


232        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


sees  to  the  ploughing  and  sowing  his  ground,  in 
winter  or  in  spring.  In  summer  and  autumn  he 
hurries  and  sweats  among  his  mowers  and  reapers. 
And  where  is  his  happiness  in  the  meantime  ?  Which 
of  these  employments  do  we  envy  ?  Or  do  we  envy 
the  delicate  repast  that  succeeds,  which  the  poet  so 
languishes  for? 

1  0  quando  faba,  Pythagorae  cognata,  simulque 
Uncta  satis  pingui  ponentur  oluscula  lardo  ! ' 

'O  the  happiness  of  eating  beans  well  greased  with 
fat  bacon  !  Nay,  and  cabbage  too ! '  Was  Horace 
in  his  senses  when  he  talked  thus,  or  the  servile  herd 
of  his  imitators  ?  Our  eyes  and  ears  may  convince  us 
that  there  is  not  a  less  happy  body  of  men  in  all 
England  than  the  country  farmers.  In  general  their 
life  is  supremely  dull ;  and  it  is  usually  unhappy  too. 
For  of  all  people  in  the  kingdom  they  are  the  most 
discontented ;  seldom  satisfied  either  with  God  or 
man." 

The  tone  of  this  criticism  resembles  that  of  the 
Edinburgh  Reviewer's  chilling  strictures  on  Words- 
worth's first  independent  volume  of  poems.  Relatively, 
however,  to  his  own  want  of  sympathy  with  Horace, 
Wesley  might  have  given  intellectual  assent  to  the 
lines — 

"But  there's  a  tree,  of  many  one, 
A  single  field  that  I  have  look'd  upon, 
Both  of  them  speak  of  something  that  is  gone : 

*  The  pansy  at  my  feet 
Doth  the  same  tale  repeat: 
Whither  is  fled  the  visionary  gleam? 
Where  is  it  now,  the  glory  and  the  dream  ? " 

Intimately  associated  with  hymns  are  hymn-tunes. 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  233 


On  this  subject  Wesley  advised  his  preachers  as 
follows  :  "  Suit  the  tune  to  the  words.  Avoid  complex 
tunes,  which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  sing  with 
devotion.  Repeating  the  same  words  so  often, 
especially  while  another  repeats  different  words, 
shocks  all  common  sense,  necessarily  brings  in  dead 
formality,  and  has  no  more  religion  in  it  than  a 
Lancashire  hornpipe.  Sing  no  anthems.  Do  not 
suffer  the  people  to  sing  too  slow.  In  every  society 
let  them  learn  to  sing ;  and  let  them  always  learn  our 
own  tunes  first.  Let  the  women  constantly  sing  their 
parts  alone.  Let  no  man  sing  with  them,  unless  he 
understands  the  notes  and  sings  the  bass,  as  it  is 
pricked  down  in  the  book.  Introduce  no  new  tunes 
till  they  are  perfect  in  the  old.  Let  no  organ  be 
placed  anywhere  till  proposed  in  the  Conference. 
Recommend  own  tune-book  everywhere;  and  if  you 
cannot  sing  yourself,  choose  a  person  or  two  in  each 
place  to  pitch  the  tune  for  you.  Exhort  everyone  in 
the  congregation  to  sing,  not  one  in  ten  only." 

It  was  foolish  of  Wesley  so  persistently  to  deprecate 
and  depreciate  anthems,  but  his  general  notions  about 
congregational  singing  are  perfectly  sound  and  in 
accord  with  the  now  universal  practice.  The  old 
Methodist  psalmody,  despite  Wesley's  protests,  was  of 
a  very  flamboyant  character,  lines  being  iterated  and 
reiterated  till  the  non-musical  listeners  must  have 
writhed  in  their  seats. 

For  the  first  forty  years  of  its  existence  Methodism 
was,  so  to  speak,  amphibious.  Formally,  it  had  many 
of  the  notes  of  Dissent.  It  had  its  own  legislature, 
its  own  meeting-houses  (too  many,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Conference  of  1783),  its  own  schools,  its  own 


234        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


hymn-book,  and,  of  course,  its  own  preachers.  With 
all  of  these  the  heads  of  the  English  Church  had 
nothing  to  do.  The  moving  spirit  of  the  whole  com- 
plex organisation  was  John  Wesley.  But  John  Wesley 
professed  himself  an  attached  member  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and,  under  disheartening  conditions, 
endeavoured  to  persuade  his  followers — those  who  were 
not  Dissenters — to  conform  to  her  rites  and  ceremonies. 
At  this  stage  the  Methodist  society  has  somewhat  the 
aspect  of  an  association  for  the  abolition  of  Dissent. 
Whereas  the  old  Dissenting  bodies  —  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  Independents — were  in  a  condition  of  stagna- 
tion and  decay,  Methodism  had  all  the  qualities — 
notably,  an  immense  vitality — calculated  to  attract 
temperaments  which  had  heretofore  found  a  con- 
genial home  in  Dissent.  As  Methodist,  a  man  might 
be  at  the  same  time  Churchman  and  Dissenter ;  and  if 
only  the  bishops  had  countenanced  the  new  institu- 
tions— entering  into  a  sort  of  honourable  conspiracy 
with  Wesley — Methodism  would  have  formed  a  bridge 
from  Dissent  to  Church,  such  as  would  have  delighted 
Tillotson  and  other  advocates  of  comprehension. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  So  far  from  Dissent  being 
annexed  by  the  Church  of  England,  Methodism  was 
annexed  by  Dissent,  and  that  virtually  in  Wesley's 
clay  and  by  Wesley's  act.  The  final  development  was 
initiated  by  events  connected  with  the  American 
Revolution.  Wesleyan  Methodism,  as  distinct  from 
Whitefield's  variety,  had  been  introduced  into  the 
southern  provinces,  as  well  as  into  the  newly- 
conquered  province  of  Canada,  by  lay-agents — into 
Canada,  fitly  enough,  by  officers  of  the  British  army. 
On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  Wesley,  very  unwisely 


THE  NEW  DISSENT 


235 


and  in  opposition  to  his  brother's  advice,  turned 
politician.  He  had  always  been  a  strong  Tory — 
indeed,  loyalty  was,  as  he  said,  a  part  of  his  religion. 
In  spite  of  that,  he  was  at  first  inclined  to  side  with 
the  colonists,  and  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  British 
Prime  Minister,  warning  him  of  the  risks  to  which  he 
was  committing  the  nation.  This  was  no  doubt  a  very 
wise  document,  if  it  was  wise  to  handle  politics  at  all ; 
but  in  a  few  months  the  amateur  statesman  turned  his 
back  upon  himself.  The  volte  face  was  complete.  The 
fact  was  that  Wesley,  though  a  veteran  in  divinity,  was 
a  tyro  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and,  as  has  been  said,  he 
was  a  sturdy  and  honest  Tory.  Dr.  Johnson,  a  brother 
Tory,  engaged  Wesley  in  conversation,  and  the  lexico- 
grapher found  little  difficulty  in  persuading  him  that 
his  views  were  erroneous.  Johnson's  own  views  were 
the  reverse  of  moderate.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  they  are  a 
race  of  convicts,  and  ought  to  be  thankful  for  anything 
we  allow  them  short  of  hanging."  That  was  exactly 
the  attitude  of  Lord  North,  and,  in  a  treatise  entitled 
"  Taxation  no  Tyranny,"  Johnson  attempted  to  justify 
it.  His  arguments  were  reproduced  in  an  abridgment 
called  "  A  Calm  Address  to  the  American  People,"  of 
which  John  Wesley  announced  himself  as  the  author. 
This  calm  address  provoked  a  tremendous  storm  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  by  many  Wesley 
was  held  to  have  fully  established  his  character  of 
arch-Jesuit. 

Notwithstanding  the  grave  impolicy  of  this  course, 
Methodism  grew  and  prospered  in  America.  During 
the  ten  years'  struggle  the  membership  rose  from  two 
to  fifteen  thousand.  The  strength  of  the  Church  of 
England  proportionately  declined.    At  the  close  of  the 


236        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


war  it  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse.  Many  parishes 
were  without  a  clergyman,  and  thei'e  were  no  bishops. 
There  never  had  been  bishops.  Government  had  been 
adjured  to  send  out  a  bishop,  but,  whether  from  policy 
or  from  sheer  neglect,  the  demand  had  been  ignored. 

American  Methodists  were  in  a  dilemma.  Were  the 
sacraments  never  to  be  administered,  or  were  they  to 
be  administered  by  uncanonical  persons  ?  The  latter 
solution  commended  itself  to  some  minds,  and,  as  a 
consequence,  the  duty  was  undertaken  by  certain  of 
the  preachers.  Wesley's  representative  in  America, 
Francis  Asbury,  did  not  approve  of  the  px-actice,  and 
in  an  explanatory  letter  suggested  that  Wesley  himself 
should  favour  them  with  a  visit.  At  the  age  of  eighty, 
the  Methodist  leader  could  not  think  of  accepting  the 
invitation,  but  he  adopted  another  hint  of  Asbury 's. 
In  a  secret  conclave  at  Bristol,  he  ordained  three  of 
his  preachers — Coke,  Whatcoat,  and  Vasey — and  sent 
them  to  the  United  States. 

As  a  simple  priest,  Wesley  had,  of  course,  no  busi- 
ness to  ordain  anyone,  but  the  ordination  of  Dr.  Coke 
had  a  special  significance,  and  Wesley  cannot  be 
absolved  from  the  charge  of  disingenuousness  in  his 
method  of  apology.  Coke  was  already  in  priest's 
orders ;  why,  then,  should  he  submit  to  a  second,  and 
apparently  superfluous,  performance  of  the  rite  ?  The 
answer  is  that  Coke  was  to  go  out  as  superintendent, 
and,  on  arriving,  to  exercise  co-ordinate  authority  with 
Asbury.  But  Coke  had  not  been  long  in  America 
before  his  colleague  and  himself  adopted  the  style  of 
bishops — bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  was  no  doubt  contrary  to  Wesley's  desire.  He 
did  not  object  to  the  thing,  but  he  greatly  disliked  the 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  237 


name — that  is,  when  assumed  by  his  followers. 
Addressing  Asbury,  he  writes :  "  How  can  you,  how 
dare  you,  suffer  yourself  to  be  called  bishop  ?  I 
shudder,  I  start  at  the  very  thought !  Men  may  call 
me  a  knave  or  a  fool,  a  rascal,  a  scoundrel,  and  I  am 
content ;  but  they  shall  never  by  my  consent  call  me 
bishop.  For  my  sake,  for  God's  sake,  for  Christ's  sake, 
put  a  full  end  to  this  ! " 

Wesley,  however,  was  ready  to  act  as  bishop.  After 
a  while,  he  ordained  ministers  for  Scotland,  alleging  in 
excuse  that  the  Church  of  England  had  no  jurisdiction 
in  that  country.  This  was  true  enough.  The  Scots 
execrated  the  English  liturgy  even  under  Methodist 
patronage.  "I  dunno  ken  what  ye  mean  by  these 
unco  inventions,"  they  said.  "  We  belong  to  the  gude 
old  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  will  not  join  with  the  Whore 
of  Babylon  at  all." 

This  conduct  of  Wesley  in  ordaining  men,  though 
it  was  wholly  inconsistent  with  his  position  as  an 
Anglican  priest  (in  respect  of  which  it  was,  indeed, 
nothing  less  than  a  monstrous  breach  of  discipline), 
was  not  inconsistent  with  his  view,  expounded  forty 
years  before,  of  Christian  orders.  When  he  boasted 
himself  a  high  churchman  and  the  son  of  a  high 
churchman,  he  used  the  term  mainly  in  a  political 
sense.  He  alluded  to  the  divine  right  of  kings,  to  the 
duty  of  passive  obedience.  Doubtless  he  attached 
much  importance  to  the  sacraments.  But  he  did  not 
believe  that  as  between  bishop  and  presbyter  there  was 
any  original  or  essential  difference.  Neither  did  he 
believe  in  the  apostolic  succession.  He  said  :  "  I  firmly 
believe  I  am  a  scriptural  Wks-k^os  as  much  as  any  man 
in  England  or  in  Europe;    for   the  uninterrupted 


238        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


succession  I  know  to  be  a  fable,  which  no  man  ever 
did  or  can  prove."  If  he  had  not  before  exercised  the 
right  which,  as  he  thought,  God  had  given  him,  it  was 
because  he  had  deemed  such  exercise  not  expedient. 
He  deemed  it  expedient  now. 

The  ordinations  at  Bristol  were  carried  out  without 
reference  to  Charles  Wesley,  though  he  was  within 
call,  and  would  naturally  have  expected  to  be  con- 
sulted. Informed  of  what  had  occurred,  he  wrote 
to  John,  articulating  the  nature  of  the  occurrence. 
Lord  Mansfield  had  said,  and  Charles  Wesley  agreed, 
that  "ordination  was  separation."  Charles  made  it 
plain  that,  while  he  did  not  propose  to  quarrel  with 
his  brother,  still  less  was  it  his  intention  to  aid  and 
abet  in  any  disloyalty  to  the  Church  of  England. 
Further  correspondence  centred,  in  some  measure,  on 
the  line, 

"Heathenish  priests  and  mitred  infidels," 

penned  by  Charles  in  the  heat  and  ignorance  of  youth, 
but  now  repudiated  by  him.  "  That  juvenile  line  of 
mine,"  he  wrote,  "  I  disown,  renounce,  and  with  shame 
recant.  I  never  knew  of  more  than  one  'mitred 
infidel,'  and  for  him  I  took  Mr.  Law's  word."  John, 
however,  replied,  "  Your  verse  is  the  sad  truth.  I  see 
fifty  times  more  of  England  than  you  do ;  and  I  find 
few  exceptions  to  it." 

These  expressions  smack  more  of  Dissent  even  than 
the  illegitimate  ordinations.  They  prove  that  the  per- 
secution to  which  Wesley  and  his  followers  had  been 
subjected  for  half  a  century  had  produced  its  inevitable 
result,  that  the  iron  had  entered  into  his  soul.  But 
these  sentiments  occur  in  a  private  letter.  Publicly, 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  239 


Wesley  still  exerted  himself  to  keep  up  the  fiction  of 
union.  There  could,  however,  be  no  real  union  when 
Wesley  himself  usurped  episcopal  functions,  and  the 
bishops  did  their  best  to  unchurch  his  proselytes. 

In  the  year  before  his  death,  Wesley  wrote  to  a 
certain  prelate  a  letter  of  remonstrance,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  remarked :  "  The  Methodists  in  general, 
my  lord,  are  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
They  hold  all  her  doctrines,  attend  her  services,  and 
partake  of  her  sacraments.  They  do  not  willingly  do 
harm  to  anyone,  but  do  what  good  they  can  to  all. 
To  encourage  each  other  herein,  they  frequently  spend 
an  hour  in  prayer  and  mutual  exhortation.  Permit 
me  then  to  ask,  Cui  bono  ?  For  what  reasonable  end 
would  your  lordship  drive  these  people  out  of  the 
Church  ?  Are  they  not  as  quiet,  as  inoffensive,  nay, 
as  pious,  as  any  of  their  neighbours  ?  Except,  perhaps, 
here  and  there,  a  harebrained  man  who  knows  not 
what  he  is  about.  Do  you  ask, '  Who  drives  them  out 
of  the  Church  ? '  Your  lordship  does,  and  that  in  the 
most  cruel  manner.  They  desire  a  licence  to  worship 
God  after  their  own  conscience.  Your  lordship  refuses 
it,  and  then  punishes  them  for  not  having  a  licence. 
So  your  lordship  leaves  them  only  this  alternative, 
1  Leave  the  Church,  or  starve.' " 

The  cry  for  separation  seems  to  have  come  mainly 
from  the  local  preachers.  This  was  probably  for  two 
reasons.  They  were  less  under  Wesley's  inspiration 
and  control,  and  they  were  more  oppressed  than  the 
travelling  preachers  by  constant  false  relations  with 
the  clergy.  An  omen  of  what  was  likely  to  occur  was 
presented  in  the  case  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connec- 
tion.   Two  of  her  chaplains,  both  clergymen  of  the 


240        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


Church  of  England,  voluntarily  embraced  Dissent,  in 
order  that  they  might  avail  themselves  of  the  Act  of 
Toleration,  and  thus  escape  the  peddling  interference 
of  a  parish  priest.  Whilst  he  lived,  however,  the 
shadow  of  Wesley's  great  name,  his  unique  authority, 
and  his  patriarchal  age,  conspired  to  stave  off  the 
unwelcome  catastrophe  of  avowed  schism. 

Wesley  was  a  charming  old  man.  One  who  knew 
him  well  thus  describes  his  appearance  and  manners: 
"The  figure  of  Mr.  Wesley  was  remarkable.  His 
stature  was  low ;  his  habit  of  body,  in  every  period 
of  life,  the  reverse  of  corpulent,  and  expressive  of 
strict  temperance  and  continual  exercise ;  and  his 
appearance,  till  within  a  few  years  of  his  death, 
vigorous  and  muscular.  His  face,  for  an  old  man, 
was  one  of  the  finest  we  have  seen.  A  clear,  smooth 
forehead ;  an  aquiline  nose ;  an  eye  the  brightest  and 
most  piercing  that  can  be  conceived,  and  a  freshness 
of  complexion  scarcely  ever  to  be  found  at  his  years 
and  impressive  of  the  most  perfect  health,  combined  to 
render  him  a  venerable  and  interesting  figure.  Few 
have  seen  him  without  being  struck  with  his  appear- 
ance; and  many  who  have  been  greatly  prejudiced 
against  him  have  been  known  to  change  their  opinion 
the  moment  they  were  introduced  into  his  presence. 
In  his  countenance  and  demeanour  there  was  a  cheer- 
fulness mingled  with  gravity;  a  sprightliness,  which 
was  the  natural  result  of  an  unusual  flow  of  spirits, 
and  yet  was  accompanied  with  every  mark  of  the 
most  serene  tranquillity.  His  aspect,  particularly  in 
profile,  had  a  character  of  acuteness  and  penetration. 

"In  dress,  he  was  a  pattern  of  neatness  and  sim- 
plicity.   A  narrow  plaited  stock ;  a  coat  with  a  small 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  241 


upright  collar ;  no  buckles  at  his  knees ;  no  silk  or 
velvet  in  any  part  of  his  apparel ;  and  a  head  as  white 
as  snow,  gave  an  idea  of  something  primitive  and 
apostolic,  while  an  air  of  neatness  and  cleanliness  was 
diffused  over  his  whole  person." 

John  Wesley  put  on  immortality  on  the  second  of 
March  1791,  when  he  was  in  the  eighty-eighth  year 
of  his  age.  He  died  as  he  had  lived ;  and  among  the 
last  things  he  said  were  the  words,  twice  uttered, 
"  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us."  He  was  buried 
in  the  ground  behind  the  chapel  in  City  Road,  London ; 
and  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Richardson,  who  officiated, 
came  to  the  sentence,  "  Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased 
Almighty  God  to  take  unto  Himself  the  soul  of  our 
dear  brother,"  he  read  instead,  "of  our  dear  father." 
The  effect  was  instantaneous.  The  crowd,  hitherto 
tearfully  silent,  broke  into  loud  weeping.  Charles 
had  gone  before.    He  died  in  1788. 

So  much  has  been  said,  and  so  many  illustrations 
given,  of  Wesley's  character  that  a  formal  summary  is 
hardly  needed.  If,  however,  a  summary  be  demanded, 
it  may  be  found  in  a  phrase  of  Horace — "  tenax  pro- 
positi." Wesley  held  fast  his  purpose, — the  moral  and 
spiritual  regeneration  of  society, — and  to  that  purpose 
he  was  ready  to  sacrifice,  and  did  practically  sacrifice, 
all.  His  absolute  devotion  to  a  noble  cause  was  the 
root  of  many  eccentricities,  and  tinctured  his  views 
of  men  and  things  in  a  way  that  sometimes  detracts 
from  the  reverence  due  to  his  lofty  disinterestedness. 
When  he  believed  that  Dr.  Coke  was  as  free  from 
ambition  as  from  covetousness,  he  talked  of  an  ideal 
Dr.  Coke.  The  real  Dr.  Coke,  Wesley's  friend,  was  as 
ambitious  a  man  as  ever  lived.  Othex's  were  as  un- 
16 


242        WESLEY  AND  METHODISM 


justly  disparaged.  Wesley  had  a  great  aptitude  for 
abstract  knowledge, — he  was,  beyond  question,  one  of 
the  best  scholars  of  his  day,1 — but  he  either  did  not 
understand,  or  would  not  accommodate  himself  to, 
ordinary  human  nature.  He  attempted  to  fit  people 
into  his  own  groove,  to  engulf  them  in  his  own  person- 
ality. The  result  was  that  his  course  was  strewn  with 
broken  loves  and  severed  friendships.  Even  Charles 
was  at  last  reduced  to  a  condition  of  semi-estrangement. 

But  Wesley  was  a  glorious  being.  His  zeal  was 
matchless ;  and  he  accomplished,  by  prodigies  of 
mental  and  physical  effort,  a  vast  and  necessary  work. 
The  physic  may  have  been  nasty, — those  fits,  especi- 
ally,— but  Methodism  arrested  national  decay  and 
infused  new  life  into  Christianity.  In  the  political 
sphere,  though  Wesley's  direct  intervention  was  not 
happily  conceived,  it  is  in  every  way  probable  that  the 
influence  of  that  high  Tory  over  the  masses  did  much 
to  prevent  an  English  analogue  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion by  absorbing  into  the  ranks  of  Methodism  those 
who  would  naturally  have  been  its  leaders.  The  eman- 
cipation of  the  slaves,  and,  after  that,  other  emancipa- 
tions were  the  reflexion  and  the  fruit  of  that  inward 
emancipation  of  which  Wesley  was  the  preacher.  The 
Evangelical  movement,  and  the  Oxford  movement,  in 
the  Church  of  England,  were  both  founded  on  the 
principle  that  religion  was  something  other,  something 
higher,  than  an  aspect  of  civil  life.  This  principle, 
which  in  the  eighteenth  century  had  been  fairly  lost, 
Wesley  and  his  companions  were  bold  enough  to 
reassert. 

For  this  all  English-speaking  men,  irrespective  of 

1  Dr.  Johnson  testifies  that  he  could  talk  on  any  subject. 


THE  NEW  DISSENT  243 


creed,  have  cause  to  be  thankful.  To  take  a  single 
illustration — may  we  not  trace  the  abolition  of  the 
duel  in  England  to  Wesley's  influence  ?  In  every 
other  European  country  the  obligations  of  honour 
prescribe  this  reckless  mode  of  settling  certain  dis- 
putes. Why  is  England  exempt  ?  The  episode  of 
the  fashionable  tailor  is  not  an  adequate  explanation. 
The  true  reason  is  that  the  English  conscience,  as 
remodelled  by  Wesley,  will  not  tolerate  the  making  of 
widows  and  orphans  on  a  frivolous  pretext.  However, 
Wesley  was  not  precisely  a  saint.  He  was  too  active, 
too  full  of  fight,  to  merit  that  description.  But  he  was, 
pre-eminently,  a  man. 


THE  END 


THE  WORLD'S 
EPOCH-MAKERS. 


EDITED  BY 


OLIPHANT  SMEATON. 


ESSRS.  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


J-VJ.  have  much  pleasure  in  announcing  an 
important  new  Series,  under  the  title  of 


"THE  WORLD'S  EPOCH-MAKERS." 


The  Volumes  composing  it  will  constitute,  when  their 
issue  is  complete,  a  valuable  conspectus  of  the  origin 
and  progress  of  the  most  prominent  movements  that 
have  taken  place  in  theology,  philosophy,  and  the  history 
of  intellectual  development  from  Buddha  to  the  present 
day. 

Each  Volume  will  record  the  initiation  and  trace  the 
Evolution  of  some  particular  phase  of  human  thought 
and  culture.  The  various  subjects  have  in  every  case 
been  assigned  to  writers  who  have  made  a  special  study 
of  them.  The  Publishers,  therefore,  confidently  expect 
that  the  successive  Volumes  will  present  the  latest  and 
most  reliable  information  on  the  topics  whereon  they 
treat,  and  that  the  Series  as  a  whole  will  be  found  to 
afford  a  valuable  guide  to  the  consecutive  study  of  the 
leading  Epochs  in  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual 
development  of  humanity. 


For  List  of  Volumes  see  following  pages. 


THE  WORLD'S  EPOCH-MAKERS. 

BUDDHA  AND  BUDDHISM. 

The  First  Bursting  of  the  Fetters  of  Ignorance  and  Superstition. 
By  Arthur  LlLLIE,  M.A.,  London. 

SOCRATES. 

The  Moral  Awakening  of  the  Western  World.  By  Rev.  J.  T. 
Forbes,  M.A.,  Edinburgh. 

PLATO  AND  ARISTOTLE. 

A  Contrast  and  Appreciation.  By  Professor  D.  G.  Ritchie, 
M.A.,  University  of  St.  Andrews. 

MARCUS  AURELIUS  AND  THE  LATER  STOICS. 

The  Last  and  the  Greatest  Age  of  Stoicism.  By  W.  Keith 
Leask,  M.A.,  Aberdeen. 

ORIGEN  AND  GREEK  PATRISTIC  THEOLOGY. 
By  Rev.  W.  Fairweather,  M.A. 

AUGUSTINE  AND  LATIN  PATRISTIC  THEOLOGY. 

By  Professor  B.  B.  War  field,  D.D.,  Princeton. 

MAHOMET  AND  MAHOMETANISM. 

By  P.  De  Lacy  Johnstone,  M.A.(Oxon.). 

ANSELM  AND  CUR  DEUS  HOMO. 

By  Rev.  A.  C.  Welch,  B.  D. 

FRANCIS    AND   DOMINIC  -  THE    FOUNDERS    OF  THE 
MENDICANT  ORDERS. 
Monasticism  and  its  Reform.     By  Professor  J.  Herkless, 
D.D.,  University  of  St.  Andrews. 

SCOTUS  ERIGENA  AND  HIS  EPOCH. 

By  R.  Latta,  Ph.D.,  D.Sc,  University  College,  Dundee. 

WYCLIF  AND  THE  LOLLARDS. 

By  Rev.  J.  C.  Carrick,  B.D. 

THE  MEDICI  AND  THE  ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE. 

By  Oliphant  Smeaton,  M.A.,  Edinburgh. 

THE  TWO  BACONS  AND  EXPERIMENTAL  SCIENCE. 

Showing  how  Roger  Bacon  prepared  the  way  for  FRANCIS 
Bacon,  Lord  Verulam.    By  Rev.  W.  J.  Couper,  M.A. 

SAVONAROLA. 

By  G.  M'Hardy,  D.D. 


New  YORK :  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


THE  WORLD'S  EPOCH -MAKERS — CONTINUED. 


LUTHER  AND  THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION. 

By  Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.D.,  F.C.  College,  Glasgow. 

CRANMER  AND  THE  ENGLISH  REFORMATION. 

By  A.  D.  Innes,  M.A.(Oxon.),  London.  [Now  ready. 

CALVIN  AND  THE  REFORMED  THEOLOGY. 

By  Principal  Salmond,  D.D.,  F.C.  College,  Aberdeen. 

PASCAL  AND  THE  PORT  ROYALISTS. 

By  Professor  W.  Clark,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  Trinity  College, 
Toronto. 

DESCARTES,  SPINOZA,  AND  THE  NEW  PHILOSOPHY. 

By  Professor  J.  Iverach,  D.D.,  F.C.  College,  Aberdeen. 

THE  HERSCHELS. 

By  James  Sime,  M.A. 

WESLEY  AND  METHODISM. 

By  F.  J.  Snell,  M.A.(Oxon.). 

LESSING  AND  THE  NEW  HUMANISM. 

Including  Baumgarten  and  the  Science  of  Esthetics.  By 
Rev.  A.  P.  Davidson,  M.A. 

HUME    AND    HIS    INFLUENCE    ON    PHILOSOPHY  AND 
THEOLOGY. 

By  Professor  J.  Orr,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

ROUSSEAU  AND  NATURALISM  IN  LIFE  AND  THOUGHT. 

By  Professor  W.  H.  Hudson,  M.A.,  Stamford  College, 
University  of  California. 

KANT  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHICAL  REVOLUTION. 

By  Professor  R.  M.  Wenley,  D.Sc,  Ph.D.,  University  of 
Michigan. 

SCHLEIERMACHER    AND    THE    REJUVENESCENCE  OF 
THEOLOGY. 

By  Professor  A.  Martin,  D.D.,  New  College,  Edinburgh. 

HEGEL  AND  HEGELIANISM. 

By  Professor  R.  MACKINTOSH,  D.D.,  Lancashire  Independent 
College,  Manchester. 

NEWMAN  AND  HIS  INFLUENCE. 

ByC.  Sarolea,  Ph.D.,  Litt.  Doc,  University  of  Edinburgh. 


New  York:  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


HANDBOOKS 

jfor  Bible  (Tlasaee  anfc  private  Students. 

EDITED  BY 

Prof.  MARCUS  DODS,  D.D.,  and  ALEXANDER  WHYTE,  D.D. 


'/  name  specially  the  admirable  Handbooks  for  Bible  Classes  issued  by 
T.  &  T.  Clark  of  Edinburgh.  They  are  very  cheap,  and  among  them  are  some  books 
unsurpassed  in  their  kind.' — Dr.  W.  Robertson  Nicoll  in  The  British  Weekly. 


COMMENTARIES 

Cents. 


each  60 
Principal  Douglas,  D.D. 
Joshua.   Judges.  each  45 

Professor  J.  G.  Murphy,  LL.D. 
Chronicles.  45 

Professor  Marcus  Dods,  D.D. 
liaggal,  Zechariah,  Malachi.  60 

Principal  Douglas,  D.D. 
Obadiah  to  Zephaniah.  45 

Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.D. 
Mark.  75 

GENERAL 

Jakes  Stalker,  D.D.  Cents' 
The  Life  of  Christ.  45 
The  Life  of  St.  Paul.  45 
(Large-type  Editions,  SI. 50  each). 

Alexander  Whyte,  D.D. 
The  Shorter  Catechism.  75 

Professor  J.  S.  Candlish,  D.D. 
The  Christian  Sacraments.  45 
The  Christian  Doctrine  of  God.  45 
The  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  45 
The  Biblical  Doctrine  of  Sin.  45 

Norman  L.  Walker,  D.D. 
Scottish  Church  History.  45 

Rev.  W.  D.  Thomson,  M.A. 
The  Christian  Miracles  and  the 
Conclusions  of  Science.  60 

George  Smith,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S.,  CLE. 
History  of  Christian  Missions.  75 

Archibald  Henderson,  D.D. 
Palestine:     Its  Historical 
Geography.    With  Maps. 

Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.D. 
The  Reformation. 

Rev.  John  Macpherson,  M.A. 
The  Sum  of  Saving  Knowledge. 
The  Confession  of  Faith. 
Presbyterianism. 


Cents. 


Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.D. 
St.  Luke.   2  Vols. 

(Vol.  I.)  60 
(Vol.  II.)  45 
George  Reith,  D.D. 
St.  John.    2  Vols.  each  60 

Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.D. 
Acts.   2  Vols.  each  45 

Principal  Brown,  D.D. 
Romans.  60 

James  Macoreoor,  D.D. 
Galatians.  45 

Professor  J.  S.  Candlish,  D.D. 
Ephesians.  45 

Professor  A.  B.  Davidson,  D.D. 
Hebrews.  75 

SUBJECT  S — 


Professor  T.  B.  Kilpatbick,  D.D. 
Butler's    Three    Sermons  on 
Human  Nature. 
President  Hamilton,  D.D. 
History  of  the  Irish  Presby- 
terian Church. 
Rev.  W.  Scbymgeour,  M.A. 
Lessons  on  the  Life  of  Christ. 


Rev.  J.  Feather. 
The   Last   of  the  Prophets- 
John  the  Baptist. 


as  to  Sin  and  Salvation. 


Edinburgh:  T.  &  T.  CLARK,  38  George  Street. 
New  York:  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


Date  Due 


